Changing the Future
by RainbowSpark18
Summary: "Look, I didn't want to be a half-blood..." With one sentence, her life would be changed forever. Andy Collins could've never expected how her love of reading turned into something right out of her favorite series, plunging her into a world where magic, myths, and monsters are real. The catch? Go back into the past and fix mistakes that should've never been made in the first place.
1. Chapter 1

I found myself running home from school that day, my bullies chasing after me until I reached Hibiscus Road, deciding to magically disappear as I neared the crossing guards. I slowed my run to a walk, cringing in disgust as I pulled pieces of gum and spit balls from my dark curls, thrown there no doubt by Holly and Carol, the biggest tormentors in my life.

I ignored the signs that were taped onto my backpack, ripping them off and throwing them into a nearby trash can as I walked by the village bakery without reading any of the nasty comments on them. Mrs. Silva, the nice old lady who owned the bakery, waved as I passed by, and I couldn't help but return the gesture as she was the closest thing I had to a grandma.

You see, I was an orphan, abandoned in a cardboard box on the steps of the Stetson Orphanage for Girls. From Mrs. Stetson's guess, I was left when I was around six months old, but luckily for me, the hospital bracelet that had been attached to my ankle was still there, and she was able to find out more information about me.

Apparently, my father had died from a drug overdose, and my mom was incarcerated for being caught drug dealing. I guess she thought leaving me in an orphanage would give me a better life than living on the run with her.

But, come on, she didn't leave me so much as a token to remember her by, unlike the other girls I lived with. They all had something they came in with, whether it be their childhood blanket or stuffed animal, a photograph, a letter, or even a family heirloom like their favorite Christmas ornament. And then there was me, the outcast even amongst a group of orphans.

Everything I owned came to me through Mrs. Stetson, who treated me like her own daughter as she had raised me. According to her, I was the only girl in the orphanage who had been abandoned as a baby, the rest of the girls ending up in the home through the death or the incapability of their parents.

Of course, this opened me up to a whole new wave of attacks, especially from the new girl, Kathleen, who gave me one look and decided I was the scum of the earth. I'd constantly find the remains of her pranks in my stuff: bugs in my bedsheets, superglue in my conditioner, marker lines defacing the paint on my walls, and the like.

Kathleen had ended up in the orphanage after her parents had died in a plane crash. Although they were super rich, something had gone wrong with their private jet's engines, and it went down in the middle of the Pacific. A month later, a sailor off the coast of Hawaii said he found some remains of a plane, causing a police investigation. Within a week, the plane was deemed to be the same one that had been destined to take Mr. and Mrs. Fredrickson to their getaway in Japan, leaving Kathleen an orphan. None of her relatives wanted to take her in; I understood why.

I eventually reached my home, punching in the four digit passcode that opened the black iron gates leading into the garden in front of the building.

The orphanage wasn't brand new, but it wasn't falling apart at the seams either. The building itself was four stories high and painted dark green with white trim around the windows and doors, giving it a welcoming appearance. In front of the house, we had a garden that Rebecca, Jade, and I took care of. Each of us had a different plot of land, in where we were allowed to grow anything we wanted with the exception that the plants closest to the iron gates had to be some type of flower.

Rebecca decided to grow hydrangeas, Jade chose peonies, and I chose zinnias, giving the garden a very asymmetrical vibe. Behind our prized flowers, we grew the fruits and vegetables that we ate, cutting back on the costs of running an orphanage greatly. That meant that Mrs. Stetson could take us out into the city every once in a while and have enough money for the thirty of us to go watch a movie or to order in pizza from Mr. Diaz's pizzeria from down the street. It also meant she gave each one of us an allowance of five dollars a week.

Sure, five dollars means nothing to most kids, but for an orphan, five dollars meant everything. Personally, I chose to save up my allowance, knowing that what I planned on buying was more special to me than any candy bar or makeup.

I planned on going a few blocks down, where Mrs. Jones had her bookstore, to buy my favorite series that ever existed in its full glory. A couple months ago, I passed by Mrs. Jones's store and entered, completely enamored by the huge posters and drawings surrounding a certain collection of books. The covers on the books were absolutely beautiful, and hanging above the main display table was an oval-shaped sign that read: _Camp Half-Blood_ in black print on an orange background on one side. On the other side, the sign read: _Camp Jupiter_ yellow print with a purple background.

Immediately curious as to why readers had to pick between two camps, I found the first book titled _Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief_ and sat down in a nearby beanbag chair. By the time Mrs. Jones had found me, I had already finished the book and found myself wanting to devour the rest of the books in the same way Meredith devoured Kit-Kats, which is to say, with a monstrous appetite.

"Goodness me!" Mrs. Jones had yelped when she found me, dropping her broom that had been in her hand. "I didn't know you were here, Andy."

"Sorry to scare you, Mrs. Jones," I had apologized, feeling heat rise to my cheeks in embarrassment. I stood up from the beanbag chair and set the book back onto its rightful stack amongst its copies, my fingers resting on the cover for a few more seconds before I pulled my hand away. "I was just leaving," I had told her as I hefted my backpack over my shoulders, already dreading the chewing out I would get from Mrs. Stetson as it was long past curfew.

Mrs. Jones smiled knowingly at me and said, "You're hooked, aren't you?"

I had nodded sheepishly, rubbing my arm like I did when I was embarrassed. "The way the story is written…it makes me want to read every single thing Rick Riordan has ever written in his life. I love how relatable the characters are, and I love the humor and action and absolutely everything."

"You sound like me once I read _The Count of Monte Cristo_ ," Mrs. Jones said, a bright smile illuminating the woman's face. Her blue eyes were shining with joy, as if she had finally found someone else to enjoy books with. "Read everything Alexander Dumas wrote afterwards, and that opened up thousands of different worlds for me."

"You understand!" I had exclaimed, breathing a sigh of relief. Ever since I was younger, I took to reading like moths to a flame. By the time I was eight, I had read every book in Mrs. Stetson's library, down to the Latin-to-English dictionary that had been collecting dust for at least a decade. While my nerdiness made me the obvious target for bullying both at the orphanage and at school, I was happy as long as I had a good book in hand.

"Of course I do, my dear. Otherwise, I wouldn't own a bookstore."

"Would you mind if I came in some other time to read the rest of the series? I promise I'll take very good care of them!"

Mrs. Jones threw her head back and laughed, one that reminded me of beautiful music and the scent of freshly baked cookies in the sense that it made me feel warm and fuzzy inside. "You're welcome here anytime, Andy, just make sure you get permission next time. I'm sure Mrs. Stetson's had three heart attacks by now."

I remember paling at the reminder of my guardian, but still paused to hug and thank Mrs. Jones one last time before tearing down the sidewalk like Hades himself was chasing me. Mrs. Stetson had been relieved at first, hugging me fiercely, and then lashing out, calling me irresponsible for breaking curfew. I hadn't argued, knowing it wouldn't do me any favors. As a punishment, I had to clean the bathrooms for a week, but in the end, it was totally worth it as I spent my afternoons in the safety of Mrs. Jones' store, happily reading.

After I had finished the newest book Rick Riordan had written in the world of the Greco-Roman myths, _The Burning Maze,_ I asked Mrs. Jones how much it would cost to buy the whole series including the accompanying books like _The Demigod Files_ and _Percy Jackson: Greek Gods._ She gave me an estimate of around three-hundred fifty dollars, and I had smiled, already having two-hundred seventy-five dollars saved up in allowance money.

Now, as I entered the orphanage and left my backpack in my room, I smiled to myself as I picked up the five dollar bill and slid it into the plastic jar I had concealed under my volleyball gear. I had finally reached the amount of money I needed to call those beautiful books my own, and I couldn't be happier.

"Andy!" Mrs. Stetson called from downstairs – unnecessarily, might I add, as I was already making my way down the stairs.

"Coming!" I replied, redoing my hair into a sloppy bun, keeping my hair off my neck. I ran into the kitchen and quickly washed my hands before picking up a knife and a crate of tomatoes, slicing and dicing them into small cubes. It was Taco Tuesday, after all, and I knew for a fact at least ten of us wouldn't touch a taco if there wasn't tomatoes overflowing the shells.

"Where have you been?" Rebecca asked me, pausing to wipe her eyes with her sleeve. Yeah, I hated onion duty.

"Practice ran late," I replied, expertly sliding the chopped tomatoes into one of the three large bowls I had to fill up. "Then I had to deal with Holly and Carol. You know how they are."

Rebecca scowled in response, her hatred towards those two stronger than my own. Ever since the duo had found Rebecca's lyric book in her backpack and then published all her deepest thoughts and feelings all over the school newspaper and social media, she's wanted to decapitate the both of them with Jade's favorite knife. Frankly, I would join her in a heartbeat.

Those two had had it out for me ever since I creamed them at volleyball during tryouts. Not my fault that I could serve and set better than them, but of course, while Coach Furtado beamed at my performance, Holly and Carol conspired to make my life a living nightmare. They tagged my locker with vulgar insults, spread rumors about me at school, and wouldn't hesitate to punch my lights out among other things.

The rest of the time, Rebecca and I worked in silence while Jade hummed under her breath, the musings of a new song. I smiled to myself as Jade's humming grew louder until she was vocalizing a melody I'd never heard before. Once she finished, Rebecca and I clapped, causing for our friend to blush brightly at the praise.

"Knock it off, you two," Jade hissed, but there was no malice in her voice. "If we don't hurry, Kathleen and her lackeys are going to have our heads."

"I'm already done," I said, moving to show my best friends my finished tomatoes. "But that doesn't mean I'm done helping. What else do we need?"

"Would you be a dear and grab the guacamole and sour cream from the fridge in the garage?" Mrs. Stetson asked, walking into the room while wiping her hands on her flour stained apron. "The tortillas, beef, and tofu are almost done, so all I have left is to shred the cheese."

"On it," I answered, depositing my knife and cutting board into the sink before running out of the kitchen.

It was just my luck as the second I walked into the hallway I would run into Kathleen, Mandy, and Ilene, the queen and her favorite minions. "Watch it, freak!" Kathleen screeched, shoving me into the wall. "This is a real Gucci jacket, not a welcome mat!"

"Not that she would know the difference," Mandy teased, pressing her forearm tightly against my throat, giving me enough space so that I could barely breathe yet still completely panic. I refused to give them that satisfaction, so instead I glared directly back at Mandy's beady brown eyes, smirking inwardly when I saw her flinch.

"Right, her mommy was a big dealer and left her here, all alone like the pathetic piece of trash that she is!" Ilene added, kicking me directly in the shins. Luckily for me, I had my kneepads under my pants, so I felt no pain.

All of a sudden, I saw something flying out of the corner of me eye, and it caught the three jerks in the head as well as take out the _Welcome_ sign we had hanging on the wall. The weapon returned to the owner, and I saw Jesse standing there, her polka-dotted covered boomerang returning to her outstretched hand.

"Leave Andy alone, you dirty wenches," Jesse said, her Australian accent more profound than ever, "or would you like another taste of what my boomerang can do?"

The three girls couldn't escape the stairs fast enough, cursing the entire time. "Thanks," I told Jesse, smiling at her as the two of us hung up the fallen sign again.

"No problem," she shrugged, tossing a hand over my shoulder. "So, what are we off to do?"

"Get some guac and sour cream from the fridge in the garage."

"Yes!" she shouted. "I forgot today's Taco Tuesday!"

The two of us laughed at her enthusiasm and quickly returned from the garage with the various containers of guacamole and sour cream that were needed to feed thirty hungry mouths. Jesse set the sour cream on the kitchen countertop and went to help Rebecca set up the dining room, leaving Mrs. Stetson, Jade, and me to finish in the kitchen.

Just as the clock struck seven-thirty, we finished and set out the various bowls out onto the tables. While it would've been nice to have one long table, we simply didn't have the room in the house to do that, so we had three tables big enough for fifteen people each. Seeing that we mostly kept it to ten people per table, there was more than enough room for us to sit comfortably and hold conversation with our friends.

Mrs. Stetson rang her silver bell, signaling that the food was ready.

If you've never seen twenty-six girls – not counting Jesse, Jade, Rebecca, or me – running from three different flights of stairs, it's honestly one of the funniest things I've ever witnessed. Girls are all prim and proper until food is mentioned and then we turn into beasts.

I took my usual seat next to Jade and Rebecca. Jesse decided to sit with us tonight, enjoying herself as she twirled her boomerang in her hand, no doubt causing Kathleen and her friends to blanch at the thought of being attacked again.

Once all thirty of us were accounted for, Mrs. Stetson walked into the middle of the room, and said grace. We all shut our eyes and bowed our heads reverently, even those of us who weren't Christian. For example, Samira was a Muslim, so whenever we said grace, she prayed to Allah.

"Amen," she finished, breaking me out of my thoughts.

"Amen," the rest of us repeated, before digging into our taco building supplies.

Mrs. Stetson typically sat at our table, so we always let her get her share before passing the food around, only serving ourselves what we were certain we would eat. We didn't waste anything in the orphanage, using everything up to its full capacity.

I talked amiably to my friends as I ate, but my mind began to wander back to the book I had been reading earlier in Mrs. Jones' store. I was positive we had that same novel in our library, but I wasn't a hundred percent sure.

I quickly finished off my second taco, turned to Mrs. Stetson, and asked, "May I please be excused?"

She looked startled by my request, as I was always the last one to leave since I helped her clean up. But she regained her composure and said, "Of course, my dear. Just remember-"

"It's my turn on dish duty, I know," I said with a smile, knowing Mrs. Stetson like the back of my hand. She loved everything to be precise and orderly. That's why we had different wheels that dictated our chores and shower schedule for the week, to prevent arguments.

I stood up from my seat and made my way to the second floor, walking into the room that was directly next to my own. Seeing that I had seniority amongst everyone at the orphanage, I got my pick of the empty rooms, and I chose the room right next to the library. My roommate, Leah, bemoaned the fact that I loved reading, because I would keep the lights on in our room past midnight to finish my books while she tried to sleep. Eventually, I found it better to stay in the library to read, that way I wouldn't disturb anyone.

Thankfully for me, Mrs. Stetson was so OCD that even the books in her library were sorted alphabetically, so finding what I needed was a breeze. My fingers stopped on a little black book, the author's, Edith Hamilton, name gracing the spine. I pulled the book from the shelf and read the cover, a small smile forming. _Greek Mythology_ the cover read in big, bold golden letters.

Outside of Rick Riordan's books, I'd never really investigated into mythology myself, but there was this nagging feeling in the back of my mind that told me I was going to need this at a later date. Sighing in a feeling of pure bliss, I took a seat by the windowsill and began reading.

* * *

The next day was by far the happiest day of my life, surpassing the time Mrs. Stetson had taken me to my school's volleyball championship for my fifteenth birthday. Stowed away in my backpack under lock and key was my jar of cash that would buy me my birthday gift.

It was May 20th, my sixteenth birthday, and I would be getting myself my favorite novels in the entire world.

I walked home after school, relieved that Coach Furtado had canceled practice, meaning I could leave school without having to confront Holly or Carol on the way home. As I reached Mrs. Jones' store, I found myself positively buzzing with excitement at the prospect at being able to call those novels my own.

When I reached Mrs. Jones' store, I saw her standing behind the register with Mrs. Stetson, a myriad of different colored balloons in their hands. As I opened the door, the little bell over the door rang, signaling that I had just entered.

Both women turned to face me, huge smiles plastered onto their faces as they shouted, "Happy birthday, Andromeda Lilliana Collins!" They let go of the balloons, allowing for them to rest against the ceiling, while reaching for those confetti popper things, laughing in joy as confetti burst from the little containers.

I blushed at all the fuss, saying a meek, "Thank you," my face feeling as if it was on fire.

"You deserve the world," Mrs. Jones said, wrapping me in a warm hug. Somehow, I knew that this was how a mother was supposed to hug, making me somewhat nostalgic for a thing I had never known. "That's why I've decided to adopt you."

I felt myself gaping in shock, unable to comprehend what I'd just heard. Suddenly, the money in my backpack meant nothing to me, not when compared to what I was just offered.

"You want to adopt _me?"_ I spluttered out, my eyes burning with unshed tears. "For real?"

Mrs. Stetson and Mrs. Jones laughed at my reply.

"Yes, for real," Mrs. Jones said, holding up a blue folder with my name on it and a bunch of papers clearly filling its insides. "You're such a joy in my life, and I would love for you to come live with me. Will you?"

"Yes!" I said, launching myself at Mrs. Jones, pulling her in for another hug as tears made their way down my face. "A thousand times, yes!" Once I composed myself, I wiped my tears away and quickly added, "No offense, Mrs. Stetson."

Mrs. Stetson shook her head fondly. "Don't worry about me, dear. I told you this day would come!"

"And, if I'm not mistaken, today's your birthday," Mrs. Jones said, a mischievous smile gracing her lips, the look that said _I know something you don't._ "Close your eyes."

I did as she asked, and she reached for my hand, leading me into the store. I already knew the place better than the orphanage, but I allowed for myself to be led towards the back of the bookstore, where I knew my favorite display was.

"Don't look yet," Mrs. Stetson said as Mrs. Jones let go of my hand. I heard some shuffling, and a few seconds later, I heard, "Open your eyes!"

I opened my eyes, and instantly, my hands flew to my face in complete and utter shock. Resting on the display table was every single Rick Riordan book ever written, including his adult-targeted series, wrapped up in a huge orange and purple bow. Like a baby, I started crying again, a blubbering mess as I tried to thank both of the women for what they had done for me.

"I know how much you wanted the books, so I thought to give them to you as a birthday present!" Mrs. Jones exclaimed, clearly as excited about my gift as I was. "And we're not done yet!"

"What more could you possibly give me?" I asked, shaking my head in shock. "I've done nothing to deserve this."

"You're my daughter now, and that means I get to spoil you," Mrs. Jones said with conviction, turning to Mrs. Stetson for approval. "Now, follow me. We have one last surprise to show you."

"You're going to love it," Mrs. Stetson assured me, patting me on the back and gently guiding me to the single computer that Mrs. Jones had up at her register.

Mrs. Jones furiously typed away at something on the keyboard before turning the display to face me. What I saw had me reeling in shock, and I stumbled back, bumping into the _Harry Potter_ display that was by the window.

"Y-You're him!" I exclaimed, my face brighter than a tomato. "You're Rick Riordan!"

The man on the display laughed at my reaction, his smile just as friendly as it appeared to be in the pictures on the back of his books. "Yes, I am," he said jovially. "And I heard that it was your birthday."

I nodded rapidly, trying to prevent myself from passing out in front of my favorite author. "I love your works," I said in a rushed breath, like I was afraid his image was going to disappear before I could tell him anything. "I love all of your books, the way you can get anyone hooked in a few sentences and create amazing story lines. I love your character development, even though I'm still upset over some deaths, but I know they were important. Thank you for sharing these amazing worlds you've conjured up with the rest of the world."

Rick Riordan laughed and smiled, blushing slightly at the praise. "I'm glad to hear you like my stories. And as for the character deaths," he stuck out his tongue, causing me to laugh. "No, but honestly, I wrote these books in the hopes that people who don't like to read would learn to love reading or for the people who need a little magic in their lives."

"Job well done," I said, giving him a slow clap. "Once again, thank you for writing what is my favorite series of all time."

"No, thank you for reading. Have a happy birthday! And I hope to hear a response from you once the new book comes out!"

"Don't worry, I definitely will," I said with a small laugh, already imagining his response to what I would write. "Bye!"

"Goodbye!"

And with that, the video call with my favorite author ended. I was still smiling so wide that my face hurt, and I hugged Mrs. Jones and Mrs. Stetson again, thanking them over and over again for that once in a lifetime opportunity.

"How did you manage to do that?" I asked the two of them. "He doesn't respond to anyone on anything!"

"Let's just say, I have some connections," Mrs. Jones said, her blue eyes flashing mischievously.

After that, we decided that Mrs. Jones would take my new gifts back to her house, where I would be moving in at the end of the week after all the proper paperwork was taken care of. I followed Mrs. Stetson back to the orphanage, smiling the whole way back.

That night, I went to bed smiling at the ceiling, overjoyed with how my birthday had gone.


	2. Chapter 2

A week after my birthday, I moved in with Mrs. Jones – sorry, Selena or Mom – and my life couldn't be going better. Sure, I was still bullied at school by Holly and Carol, but none of that mattered as I got to return to my favorite place in the world after school.

I helped Selena out in the bookstore after school, and when no one was in the store, I was free to read as many books as I wanted. I know, a paradise, right?

I should've known something would go wrong soon, and it came in the form of Mr. Jones. He didn't necessarily care about my existence in his household, but he and Selena would have heated arguments late at night, when I was supposed to be sleeping.

"What are you thinking?" I overheard him screaming at Selena one night. "This is a dangerous game you're playing. Even the scribe agrees that this is too dangerous to be messing with!"

"She is the one who is destined to save them all," Selena fired back in her perpetual calm tone, never raising her voice. "I am positive of this."

"How? How can you be so sure this won't backfire on you?"

"I will train the girl myself. She will be powerful beyond all shadow of a doubt. Under my guidance, she will set things right."

"You're crazy," Mr. Jones decided, a tone of finality in his voice. "We'll discuss this more later."

I had scrambled back to my room just in time to hear his footsteps echo outside my door before the door to their room slammed shut. I pulled up my covers and turned to face the wall, pretending to be asleep as Selena entered my room, releasing a gentle sigh.

She sat on my bed and brushed my hair away from my face. "I never wanted to bring this fate upon anyone," she said softly, still stroking my hair. "But it must be done."

* * *

That night, after the argument, Selena began closing the store earlier than normal, choosing to shift the hours from eight to six rather than from eight to nine. I quickly found out why, as once we closed shop, we walked to an abandoned warehouse with a blue mountain logo spray painted into the metal walls.

"What's going on?" I asked, following Selena as she pushed a few buttons and the lights sprung to life, leaving the room illuminated as brightly as a clear summer day.

"We must begin your training," Selena told me solemnly, clearing out a patch on the ground of about twenty feet in diameter. She then crouched down to long box, about seven feet in length, and opened the lid, the hinges screeching as if they were being tortured.

Imagine to my horror when I saw that the box was full to the brim of weapons that belonged in the middle ages. Swords, maces, knives, daggers, and many other dangerous things filled the box. Selena then walked over to another box and opened it as well, revealing full body armor. It was bronze and clearly built for a female by the way that the breastplate had been designed, but what surprised me the most was that the bronze was gleaming brightly instead of being tarnished like the armor you'd find in a museum.

"Go ahead," Selena said, gesturing towards the box-o-weapons. "Take your pick."

"You're crazy!" I said, backing away from my new guardian and inching my way closer to the door. "No way am I going to join whatever medieval cult this is!"

Selena merely sighed, grabbed me by the wrist, and dragged me back into the mini-arena she had made. She closed her eyes and held her hand over the box, as if expecting for the right weapon to fly into her hand. Sure enough, a sword about three feet long flew directly into her hand without disturbing any of the other weapons.

"What was in that omelet?" I muttered to myself, rubbing my eyes to see if they were deceiving me. Sadly, they were not, and there was Selena holding a sword for me to grab.

"I'm so sorry, my child," she said, her voice genuinely apologetic for me. "I didn't want to bring you into this world, but I fear you're the only one capable of fixing his mistakes."

"Whose mistakes? What's going on?" I questioned, my heart hammering in my chest.

"I think you know what's happening, even if you won't admit it to yourself."

I shook my head and walked away from Selena in disbelief. "Those were just stories," I protested. "He said it himself that those books were for his sons and other children to learn to like reading. They're not real!"

"You're right," Selena agreed with me, "in this world, that is."

 _"_ _What?"_

"We live in a world devoid of magic, Andromeda, and that was predestined by the creator himself. However, that scribe was brought here from another universe where the gods exist. Everything he wrote down in those books happened on another Earth," Selena explained.

"But something happened on his transport here. He was attacked by some of the most ferocious interplanetary beasts known to exist. They took him prisoner, altered some of his memories."

"But what does that have to do with anything?" I asked again. "So what if he messed up some of the details? If they're just stories on this planet, then that doesn't mean a thing."

Selena shook her head like I was a naïve child, which in this case, I was. Even though I had wished to be a part of the demigod world, I never really thought it was true. I wasn't ready to face any monster, titan, or giant that Rick Riordan had described. Being a demigod is only cool in theory, not so much in practice.

"Mr. Riordan was the scribe of the gods, recording their history since the beginning of time," Selena began to explain. "He's existed since Chaos formed Gaea and Ouranous, his sole purpose being to record the truth. When he was attacked and his memory was messed up, this gravely changed our former home. You see, anything that he writes comes to pass."

"So you mean to tell me that my favorite author is over ten thousand years old?"

" _That's_ what you decide to focus on?"

I shrugged. "Sue me."

"Anyhow," Selena continued, visibly irritated now, "The attack caused for him to record some false information. People who shouldn't have died are now dead, and there are some who should be dead yet are still freely roaming the planet."

"I thought as much. But what does that have to do with _me?"_

"All in due time," Selena said, ending the conversation. "If you are to survive, we must begin your training. Now, pick up the sword, and let's begin."

* * *

If I thought volleyball conditioning was the worse punishment in the world, I was extremely wrong. After sword training for three hours straight, my arms felt as if they were made of Jell-O, hanging limply at my sides. Even the parts of my body we hadn't trained were sore: my legs cried at every step I took, my feet ached, and my head was pounding with a forming headache.

And this was merely learning how to hold a sword. Selena refused to teach me to spar today, saying, "If you are to learn to fight, you must learn to control your blade and body first."

Selena had ended training when I blacked out from overexertion, my vision still splotchy from how hard I had hit the dirt. According to her, I was fine and what had happened was to be expected from a mortal body.

Sorry that I'm not a demigod, I thought to myself afterwards, helping clean up even though all I wanted to do was lay on the floor in a motionless heap. The two of us walked home, the crisp air feeling wonderful against my slightly feverish skin.

Little did I know how much of a common occurrence would training be. Selena forced me to show up at the warehouse every day at six promptly for training, determined to make me skilled in every weapon under the sun and moon. The only time I could be late was if volleyball practice ran late, and even then, she compensated by making me stay later and pushing me harder.

"You must be able to fight even when exhausted," she told me as the two of us sparred with our matching swords, "otherwise, you'll be killed."

Once summer break came around, Selena devoted her whole day dedicated to training me. As for the bookstore, she had gotten Mr. Jones to accept her choice to train me and was now running the store, using the excuse that the two of us were bonding to get out of any questions about our location.

During one of my short breaks, I asked Selena, "What about my friends at the orphanage? What will happen to them?"

"What do you mean?" Selena asked, setting down her water bottle.

"I mean, if this is one of many universes, what will happen to my friends when I leave? Will this world still exist? Will they remember me?"

"This is a world without magic," Selena reminded me for the umpteenth time. "But, I still have enough influence to make it as if you never existed in this town. By the way, when we depart from this world, our scribe will be joining us."

My eyes nearly popped out of my head. "But what about his books?" I asked. "Will they cease to exist?"

"I'm afraid so, my child. This world will be wiped clean of his existence. Don't dwell on such thoughts, though. We don't have time for that."

Selena ended our break and we moved onto the next weapon: hunting knives.

Eventually, I learned to stop asking questions and simply follow Selena's directions. I found myself growing stronger every passing week and my skills growing. I got to the point where I was able to defeat Selena some of time with certain weapons, such as my sword or my hunting knives.

I was better with melee fighting, but that didn't mean I couldn't hold my own with ranged fighting as well. Personally, I found it much more effective to stab or slash at someone with a blade than shoot an arrow that may miss, but hey, that's just my opinion.

A year quickly passed, and I eventually was able to defeat Selena every single time we sparred. The day I had stood over her with her wrists and ankles pinned under me while I had a dagger pointed at her throat, she gave me the biggest smile in the world.

"The student becomes the teacher," she said after yielding.

"Not by a long shot," I said, helping Selena up to her feet.

"I have taught you everything I know, my child, and you are finally prepared. I'll send a message to my husband and our scribe for us to depart."

"When do we leave?"

"At the end of the week, with the full moon. My power is strongest at night."

I nodded, sheathing my dagger at my waist before picking up my bow and began to shoot. After a year of training under Selena, I learned more about the Greek and Roman myths than any normal mortal needed to know, but I knew the knowledge would be invaluable in a fight.

At night, after training, I would stay up for hours, pouring over my sixteenth birthday presents until I had every single word memorized. If I was to correct Rick Riordan's mistakes, I needed to know what had happened leading up to certain events. I needed to change the future for the fate of that Earth.

A week passed too fast for my liking. I'd barely had a chance to say goodbye to Mrs. Stetson and my friends at the orphanage. Selena had explained our leaving by saying we were moving, taking the business with us.

Sure enough, as I walked by the bookstore that last night on the way to the warehouse, signs with various different realtor's phone numbers were plastered onto the darkened windows, making me acknowledge how real this was going to be.

I was about to plunge myself into a world where monsters that would want to kill me and temperamental gods existed, and on top of all of that, I had a list of deaths I needed to prevent as well as make sure happen.

No pressure.

I was the last one to reach the warehouse, Selena, Mr. Jones, and Rick Riordan having already been there for some time before I arrived. I saw Selena furiously drawing something on the floor that had been our arena with pieces of red, white, and blue chalk, writing in a language I didn't understand.

"That's not Ancient Greek or Latin," I noticed, watching as Selena scratched the words into the floor.

"No, it's much older than that," Rick Riordan answered, adjusting his satchel strap over his shoulder. His satchel was nothing fancy – a brown leather bag that had a brooch to keep it shut, but there was so much paper shoved in it that I was afraid the bad was going to explode. "It's the language of the creator, Chaos."

"Lovely," I muttered, taking a seat on one of the now useless wooden crates. I wonder what would happen to these weapons when they're discovered. Honestly, I seriously doubt we can open an interdimensional portal and expect for this place to not be checked out later.

"Have you prepared yourself?" he asked me, fidgeting with his glasses.

"As much as a mortal girl can," I replied, drumming my fingers absentmindedly on my leg. Rick then winced, as if I hit a sore spot. "What don't I know?"

"In order to correct my mistakes," he began, "we need to make you a demigod."

"Well, I've already been born," I quipped, "so how the heck is that supposed to work?"

"I've been in contact with some friends of mine, the Fates. They know what is to pass and are expecting your arrival, so when we appear, they will tell you who your godly parent is. And, before you ask, if the god or goddess chosen has powers, you should inherit them."

I nodded, understanding what was planned for me. Selena never did get around to tell me why she had chosen me, but I guessed it was a prophecy or dream of some sort. I mean, if the books taught me anything, prophecies and dreams dictate everything that happens on that Earth.

Geez, I needed to stop thinking of the other Earth as anything other than my new home. And, who knows, maybe my friends will be there as other people. Maybe they'll even be demigods, but then again, how much of a blessing is that really?

"The portal is ready," Selena said in a tired breath, her arms and clothes completely covered in chalk. Realizing her appearance, she blushed and changed her clothes.

"One more question before we go," I said, hopping off from the box I was sitting on. "Who are you?"

Selena gave me a sad smile before glowing blue for a second, revealing herself in her true form. By that, I mean how she normally appears as a mortal, not her divine form or I would've been dead by now.

She had long blonde hair that was pulled back into a braid dotted with different flowers that rested casually over her shoulder. Her skin was pale as snow and without flaw. Her eyes were bluer than the Mediterranean Sea when the surf was perfectly still and you could see through the water as if it were glass. A delicate gold necklace rested upon her neck and a flowing white dress adorned her body, fitting her like a glove.

"I am Salina, goddess of wishes."

I turned to Rick Riordan, who appeared rather sheepish. "Why wasn't she ever mentioned in the books?"

"Do not blame our scribe for not including me," Selena, err, Salina, said, her eyes full of millennia old sadness. "I am a minor goddess amongst the minor goddesses, and most don't even know I exist. Everyone who makes a wish on a shooting star or when they blow out their birthday candles pray to me, but alas, I've gotten so weak that I can only grant small wishes."

"Then how the heck are we supposed to jump through time and space if you can't grant wishes?"

"I've waited millennia for you to come along," Salina said, walking up to me and brushing a stray hair behind my ear in a very mother-like gesture. "I've bided my time, storing up my power in the hopes that one day you'd arrive and everything could be set right again."

"Still think you're crazy," Mr. Jones said (I know that isn't his name, but I haven't heard an introduction yet).

Salina waved off her husband's negativity, still smiling down at me. "Are you ready, my child?"

"As ready as I'll ever be."

Salina then arranged the three of us in the circle at specific points, took her place, and began to chant in the language of Chaos, her voice rising and falling with a very specific cadence. Something told me that if she missed so much as a single beat, this place would go nuclear, and we'd all be blown to smithereens.

The power in the warehouse started to malfunction as the lights began flickering on and off like warning signals. Underneath my feet, the floor rumbled violently, like we were standing above the epicenter of an earthquake. Then Salina started to levitate in the air, her eyes having rolled into the back of her head while a black aura surrounded her.

Just as I thought this whole place was about to go up in smoke, Salina pointed her hands to a circle she had drawn in the middle of all the strange symbols and pushed all the energy she had summoned into that circle. Amazingly, the circle seemed to consume the energy, and the symbols she had drawn began to glow silver one by one until the outer perimeter began to shine as well.

"Hold on!" Rick Riordan shouted as the floor disappeared under my feet revealing a large blue whirlpool.

The next thing I knew, the four of us were being sucked down the cosmic whirlpool, screaming our heads off as we were flung back to Earth.

* * *

When I woke up, I was alone in the middle of a pitch black forest. The sky was completely dark, the moon nowhere to be found. I stood up and steadied my breathing, knowing that if I couldn't hear anything, I'd be in much more danger.

Off to my immediate right, I heard the sounds of a babbling brook and decided to walk towards the water. If I truly was by myself, this water would be invaluable to me.

After walking into a bunch of pine trees and tripping over multiple tree roots, I found the small stream I'd heard, flowing lazily towards the sea. I sat by the shores, waiting to see if any of my companions had made it here as well.

All of a sudden, a black bag appeared in my lap with a silver star brooch keeping the whole thing closed. I opened the bag and reached inside, pulling out the single piece of loose-leaf paper I felt. The paper was a note from Salina, and somehow she had found ink that glowed silver, allowing for me to read it in the dark.

 _My child, our plan has worked, but I'm afraid in this world, I cannot be in direct contact with you. I can send you aid, but for the time being, this will be our last interaction. Make your way to Brooklyn. You know what to do._

 _Sadly, I do not know who your godly parent is in this world, either. We must wait for them to claim you or for the Fates to intervene. Sorry about that._

 _P.S. As you change the mistakes, the books will change as well. This purse can hold an infinite amount of things, and the books are here when you need them._

 _~Salina_

I tucked the note back into my bag and felt around, feeling more comfortable once I felt the familiar spines of the books that were now my life.

Seeing that there was absolutely no way for me to get anywhere, I decided to follow the stream, hoping it would lead me near some houses or maybe even a road if I was lucky. I walked for about twenty minutes when I saw lights start to appear in the distance. No, it wasn't from hallucinating, they were street lights, I was certain of it.

Still, I made myself little markers to make my way back to the stream if need be by reaching into my purse and pulling out a piece of chalk to mark some trees with. The chalk was glow-in-the-dark, but it was also washable, that way Artemis didn't have an excuse to hunt me down and skin me alive for defacing nature.

As I guessed, I found a road where the lights were, but either it was really late or this was an abandoned stretch of road, because no one was here. There was a single traffic light at the intersection that didn't even work, because the lights had long since gone out. There weren't any houses or stores anywhere, which seemed kind of sketchy to me. This was New York, after all, and the closer you were to Manhattan, the more of those souvenir shops you found.

The hairs on the back of my neck stood up, and I instantly knew something was wrong. Call it a sixth-sense or whatever, but I had just enough time to duck before a huge minivan was thrown directly at my head.

"Demigod!" the thing that had tried to kill me shouted. "Come here so I can eat you!"

Instead of putting Salina's training to use, I ran back into the forest and started scaling the nearest tree. I made it to the top, thanking the gods that I had dressed in all black as I pressed myself against the trunk and held my breath. I didn't have a Celestial bronze, Imperial gold, or Stygian iron weapon with me at the moment, and I seriously doubted my bag would conjure up that kind of thing.

I counted up to five minutes, and when I heard a roar and saw another car be thrown like a Lego, I realized that thing hadn't been after me. Hesitantly, I unsheathed the dagger I had brought with me from my Earth, and to my surprise, the once steel blade now glowed bronze.

However, I didn't have time to be surprised as I heard a piercing scream break through the air. Lightning flashed across the sky in angry bursts, as if Zeus didn't know who he wanted to strike down first.

I shimmied my way down the tree and ran across the street, pressing myself against the wall of the building. Spray painted against the wall in a bright red paint was a monocle and the words underneath it read: _Monocle Motors, Assembly Plant 37._

"I hate Cyclopes," I hissed under my breath, running into the building.

Crazy? Yes.

Dangerous? Absolutely.

Did I have another choice? Of course not.

The door to the entrance was sticking out through a brick wall, as if it had been thrown like a spear after being ripped off its hinges. Further inside the building, I heard three distinct voices, and even though I'd never met them before, I instantly knew who was speaking when.

"Luke! Thalia! Annabeth! Grover!" I shouted, running deeper into the building. "Where are you?"

When there weren't any responses, I climbed up a ladder that was clearly a last minute addition from the way it was messily bolted to the wall, hoping to get an overview of the maze. If I was right, this was the Cyclops that messed Grover up so badly it cost Thalia her life.

As I suspected, the Cyclops had already gotten ahold of Thalia and Luke, the two of them hanging unconsciously over a huge brazier. Their legs were tied together with rope, and their faces were so red, I wondered how long they'd been like that.

Scanning over the rest of the maze, I found Annabeth crouching behind a wall, curled up into a small ball as she tried to hide from the Cyclops. Lucky for the both of us, there was only one of the big brutes, meaning this wouldn't be completely hopeless.

I jumped over the various walls, suddenly thankful for all of Salina's training even though I had hated every single moment of it. When I was close enough to Annabeth, I jumped from my position, landing in a roll so that I didn't shatter both my ankles.

"Annabeth," I whispered urgently, waving my dagger in her direction in the hopes of catching her attention.

She didn't scream, but even from here, I could see the fear in her eyes. Right, at this time, she was only seven. I lowered my dagger to seem less threatening and lowered myself to her height. "I'm here to help," I told her.

"Who are you?" Annabeth demanded, standing up and brandishing her own dagger, clearly prepared to run me through.

"My name is Andy Collins. I'm a demigod, too. I was sent by a friend to check this place out, because he heard something going on."

Her gray eyes continued appraising me, but I guess she trusted me enough because she lowered the dagger. "My friends are in danger," she told me. "I don't know where Grover is, and I keep hearing Thalia and Luke, but I haven't been able to find them."

"Don't panic," I said, "but they're being held ransom by a Cyclops."

"A Cyclops? No wonder I heard my father's voice being used against me."

Then we heard a shrill, "Annabeth!" being called out, and the two of us winced.

"That's Thalia's voice," Annabeth told me, looking extremely pained. "We've got to save them."

"And we will," I assured her. I changed my grip on my dagger and followed Annabeth as she listened to the direction of the voices.

We eventually found the middle of the maze, where the Cyclops was smiling down at us. He was easily ten feet tall, and so many scars covered his skin that he made Frankenstein pass off as normal. A single brown eye sat in the middle of his head, and nothing but malice shone in the single iris.

"Annabeth," he purred, and instantly, I felt violated for the both of us. "And who's this? You brought me another one of your friends to eat? How kind!"

On a silent signal, the both of leaped forward, causing the Cyclops to laugh. He grabbed Thalia and Luke's ropes, dangling them dangerously close to the flaming brazier. "Take another step, and they die!" he roared.

"Okay," I shrugged. "I won't take another step."

In one fluid motion, I threw my dagger at the Cyclops, cringing despite myself as the blade landed directly in his eye. He yelled in agony, releasing Thalia and Luke as he reached the dagger in his eye and tossed it aside. Blood poured from the wound, but I knew all I had managed to do was piss him off.

Grover suddenly came running into the room, and despite wasting a few precious moments wondering who I was, Annabeth quickly got him on track by motioning the unconscious Luke and Thalia.

The Cyclops then started to charge, but I rolled out of the way and dove for the brazier, knocking it over with a satisfying _thud._ The fire quickly began spreading, but the Cyclops was having none of it. They're fire-proof, after all.

Annabeth charged the Cyclops from behind, driving her dagger deep into his foot, causing for him to hop around and release another shout of pain.

"I've got them!" Grover shouted as he untied Thalia and Luke's bodies, both of them hitting the floor like sacks of flour.

"Let's end this," I told the young daughter of Athena, hiding a smile as a warrior-like fire burned in her eyes.

The two of us charged the Cyclops, flanking him on both sides and carving up every piece of flesh our blades could find, adding on to his ever growing collection of scars. I then hoisted Annabeth onto my back, allowing for her to shove her dagger hilt deep directly into the Cyclops' stomach. That was the straw that broke the camel's back as he finally turned into dust, blowing away in the wind.

By now, the fire was so intense I could feel the hair on my arms begin to burn. Grover had managed to pick up Thalia, but he was unable to pick up Luke. I simply bent down and fire carried Luke across my back, promising Annabeth that I'd keep him safe.

The five of us hauled it out of that Cyclops lair. Grover then yelled, "Hit the deck!" as the building exploded, shrapnel flying everywhere.

Although Thalia was unconscious, I touched the bracelet on her wrist and used Aegis to shield us from the shrapnel. When the blast ended, my ears were still ringing like I'd stood next to a speaker during a rock concert, but I managed to deactivate Aegis, earning looks of terror from both Grover and Annabeth.

"How did you know about Aegis?" Annabeth asked, looking just as terrified of me as she had been when I first introduced myself.

"Let's just say I know a lot more than I should," I told her, rummaging through my bag for some ambrosia and nectar. Thankfully, my bag was able to produce the godly food, and I force fed both Thalia and Luke until they both woke up, fully alert to fight.

"Who are you?" Thalia demanded, her hand already at her pocket where her spear was concealed.

"I'm Andromeda, but you can call me Andy." Lightning flashed in the sky again, and as if someone had poured ice cold water down my back, I said, "The formalities can wait, we need to go _now."_

"I'm not going anywhere with you," Luke spat, pointing his sword at my chest. "We don't know you."

"She just saved your lives!" Annabeth cried angrily. "I trust her, and if she says we need to go, we need to go!"

Both of them gave me glares, which I evenly matched until they broke it off and sighed. I then turned to Grover and said, "We don't have time for any more confusion. Get us to Half-Blood Hill."

"Just what are we facing that's so urgent?" Luke asked, begrudgingly following me as I walked behind Grover, my head on a constant swivel.

"Only the Lord of the Dead and several of his bloodthirsty minions," I said with a shrug. "Now, if you all want to make it to camp alive, you'll do what I say."


	3. Chapter 3

The next few days were a complete blur as the four of us slashed and stabbed our way from Brooklyn to Manhattan. The trip shouldn't have taken more than a few hours, but with our rotten luck, we had to stop for a day after Luke was injured from an empousa's spear, which Grover treated with a whole lot of nature magic.

Although I had never visited the New York of my other Earth – I had lived in the middle of Ohio – I somehow knew the layout scarily well. It wasn't until we passed by a candy store called Sweet on America that I realized that this part of Manhattan was in the exact same set up as my own town.

I turned around, the familiar tingling lacing up and down my spine telling me that we were in danger. Annabeth and Thalia were both supporting Luke, as he had once again passed out from reopening his chest wound. Blood seeped through his shirt, staining Thalia's hands as she pressed on the wound to keep him from dying of blood loss.

"In here," Grover decided, waving towards the Sweet on America store. I would've picked a less conspicuous place, but when a bolt of lightning struck the skyscraper two blocks down, I knew that the monsters were honing in on us.

Suddenly, I remembered that Sweet on America was the candy store where Sally Jackson worked, and the meant I'd have time to warn her, too. I ran back to Luke, taking Annabeth's place by his side, and then we ran into the candy shop.

Thankfully for us, no one was in the store other than Sally, who emitted a meek yelp as we burst in through the door. "We need help," Thalia pleaded, lowering Luke onto the floor. I did the same, immediately going to work. I had loaded up on gauze from our last pharmacy visit and started wrapping Luke's wound, hoping to stop the bleeding.

"You're demigods, aren't you?" Sally questioned, sounding as if she had been sucker punched in the gut.

"Yes, and we don't have much time," Thalia replied. "There are monsters chasing after us, and our friend's been seriously hurt. Do you have anything that could help us?"

"She's a mortal," I reminded Thalia. Then, as I continued tying off the gauze, I said, "Could you please call Chiron at Camp Half-Blood and tell him that we're almost there?" I handed her the little business card Grover had given me earlier.

She paled but nodded, running to the back of the store, where I imagined the phone was. I called over Annabeth and told her to keep pressure on the wound as I pulled out a second roll of gauze, double wrapping Luke's spear wound. I cringed as I saw the edges tinged green, either from poison or infection. Reaching into my bag, I pulled out the last of my ambrosia and forced it into Luke's mouth.

"We can wait five minutes at most," I told Annabeth, Grover, and Thalia. "Take a breather, re-bandage your wounds, but be ready to move."

Grover began to nervously eat the napkins from the dispenser, eating them the same way I ate cookies, which is to say like it was his last meal. Sally came back from the back room, her face an ashy shade of gray, but she put on a brave face for us, offering us some candy while we rested.

While Annabeth and Thalia took full advantage of the free candy, I gestured for Sally to follow me away from the others. I told her that I knew about Percy, which almost made her pass out, but I assured her that he was still safe for the time being. I promised her that I would keep an eye out for him, because I knew of the danger he was in. Just because I came to change the future, didn't mean I could step in every single time someone needed danger. They still had to earn their own reputation without my involvement.

"How long does he have?" she asked, her voice wavering. "Before he's discovered?"

"Until he's twelve. And I have one more thing for you, Sally," I said, reaching into my bag, my hand closing around a little gold charm that Salina had given me in a dream last night. The charm was of a shooting star, Salina's symbol. "As long as Percy keeps this on, his demigod scent will be better hidden. Instead of having the aura of a Big Three kid, it'll weaken it to as if he were a kid of a minor god."

Sally gratefully took the little charm from me, her blue eyes glazed over with tears of joy. "This means everything to me. Thank you."

I waved her off. "This is nothing. Now you can get rid of your abusive husband and still have Percy around."

Before she could reply, another bolt of lightning struck a neighboring skyscraper, the lightning rod at top illuminating in bright fiery red, as if the metal was going to catch flame. I said my goodbye to Sally and told the others it was time to move.

I scooped Luke up into my arms bridal style, and after checking that we had everyone, ran out onto the sidewalk, Grover leading the rest of us. We ran for what felt like hours, the monsters quickly catching up to us. A couple of times, I had to hand Luke off to Annabeth while I cut down hellhounds and harpies, the both of which were more than happy to slice us into pieces with their razor sharp claws.

"We're almost there!" Grover exclaimed as he led us down an empty piece of road, gently curving up and down the hillsides as if it had always been there. We ran down another slope, the biggest hill coming up right in front of us. Off in the distance, I could make out various tiny pinpoints of light, and if I was right, then those were torches.

Not even two seconds later, I heard a cry of pain and turned around to see Thalia had fallen over a tree root, clutching at her leg in agony. I gave Luke to Grover, who was finally starting to wake up. He slurred a few words, but his eyes were wide with fear as he realized what was going on.

"Die, traitor!" three old ladies screeched, diving low at us. The hag on the right scratched my arm, leaving three oozing lines on my skin.

If I had seen these three women anywhere else but here, I wouldn't have given them much thought. But their skin was a leathery gray tone and their eyes glowed as if someone had dropped a ruby into a furnace. Their claws elongated until they were as long as two rulers, and each one of them had a whip, a green glow lacing each one of them.

"Those are the Kindly Ones!" Annabeth shouted, running towards Thalia to help her up. "All three of them!"

Even though I should've been terrified, I suddenly knew why I had been transported so far back in time. Thalia wasn't going to die today, not if I could help it.

"I'll hold them off," Thalia decided, struggling to stand, yet still summoning her spear and shield anyways. "It's me they want. Get to camp!"

"No!" Luke and Annabeth shouted, lunging forward, but I held the both of them back.

"Take them," I told Grover in my most dead serious voice. He shuddered in fear. "I'll stay here with Thalia."

"Then we'll both die!" Thalia exclaimed, parrying off a blow from one of the Furies with her Aegis, causing her to scream as she put her weight on her bad ankle.

"No, we won't." I brandished my own dagger, stabbing one of the Cyclopes that had tried to get Thalia from behind. I stood back to back with Thalia, determined to give Grover enough time to drag Annabeth and Luke over the property line.

We were already tired from all of our previous attacks, and it was obvious that Thalia's hurt ankle was sapping her strength, her attacks becoming weaker and sloppier. I cursed under my breath, wishing I had my sword with me, but still slashed with my dagger, finding the chinks in some of the empousai's armor.

"Daughter of Zeus!" the Furies screamed, lashing out with their whips at us. One of the whips wrapped around my left wrist, making it feel as if I dipped my hand into a bucket of molten lava. I grunted in pain and severed the whip from the handle with my dagger, earning me some very strong curses from that Fury. "You have angered the gods! Stop fighting and surrender!"

"Don't listen to them," I told Thalia, landing a kick on a hellhound the size of a pickup truck, only making it angrier.

But Thalia was far too tired to keep fighting. She fell to her knees and dropped her weapons, her chest heaving with desperate breaths. I hadn't noticed, but it had started raining while we fought, and Thalia's black hair was plastered against her face, making her seem like a fallen angel. But now, the fight seemed to have drained from her eyes, instead all that was left was absolute terror. She was only twelve. She didn't want to die.

"Wise girl," the Fury all the way to the left said, taking the form of a weathered old lady with a black leather jacket on her. "Say hello to our master for me."

"Leave her alone, Alecto," I said, standing over Thalia as she cried. "If you want to kill her, you'll have to kill me first."

"That can be arranged," Alecto replied, scowling at me for knowing her name. She waved to her sisters, allowing for them to rush at me.

I managed to hold my own against the Furies, but every time their whips wrapped around my skin, I staggered, my strength quickly draining. "Run!" I shouted at Thalia, multiple times, keeping the rest of the monsters distracted so she could make it over the property line. If I was to die at the hands of the Furies, I would do it knowing that Thalia was going to be safe.

"Die, honey!"

"No!" Thalia screamed as Alecto brought down a pitch black dagger down towards my unprotected chest.

Instinctively, I threw my hands up over my chest, as if that would prevent the blade from piercing my skin. When I didn't feel any pain, I opened my eyes only to find that everything had suddenly stopped, including the rain. Surrounding my hands was a golden glow, and I instantly understood what had happened.

Taking advantage of the frozen battle, I stabbed the Furies and turned to run, the spell dropping instantly. I felt as if everything I had in me was sucked out by the world's most powerful vacuum. The Furies didn't even have time to curse at me before they exploded like piñata's at a kid's birthday party, spreading disarray and panic through the rest of the monster hoard.

Although my vision was starting to blur together, I stood defiantly over the dust that once was the Furies and glared at the monsters, as if daring them to advance. I was met with hisses and angry growls, but no one was anxious to attack a girl who had single handedly defeated the three Furies.

The rest of the monsters fled back into the forest, lightning flashes still illuminating the sky overhead. I then fell to my knees and collapsed, the last of my adrenaline leaving my body.

"Andy!" I heard someone call, but by then, I had already blacked out.

* * *

I woke up feeling as if I had gone five rounds with Mike Tyson, that's how bad everything ached. My head felt as if it was being split open, and even though all the windows in the room were covered and the lights were out, there was still too much light for me. I shut my eyes again and winced, turning to face the wall that the cot I was in was against.

"Good, you're awake," a kindly voice said softly, trying to prevent my headache from getting any worse. Somehow, I knew that this is what a hangover would feel like even though I've never had alcohol in my life.

I heard the creaking of a wheelchair being rolled in my direction, and it didn't take me too long to figure out who had just entered the room. He wheeled himself over to me and handed me a glass, helping me to hold it as I took little sips from the blue straw. The nectar tasted like the cinnamon buns Mrs. Silva made in her bakery, my favorite treat that my town had to provide. Sometimes, when practice would run really late, she'd wave me into the bakery and allow me to take all the leftover goods back to the orphanage.

By the time I had drained the glass, my head no longer pounded and I could sit up without too much trouble. However, I wasn't going to tempt fate by trying to stand up.

"Where am I?" I asked Chiron. I knew what he was going to answer, but still, I had to keep up appearances. If I told him everything I knew, he'd be forced to drag me to Olympus, and gods knows how that would play out, especially if the Fates themselves had ordained it that I was needed here.

"You're at Camp Half-Blood, my dear," he said, his brown eyes full of warmth at seeing me awake. "I am Chiron, the activity director."

I nodded and then winced, wishing I had just said something instead. Point for my being an idiot.

"That was quite the fight you were in," Chiron said in amusement. "You've been out cold for two days."

I wasn't surprised, honestly expecting to be out for at least four days. Then my hands flew to my waist, and I began to panic when I realized that both my dagger and my bag were not with me. Chiron noticed my panic and pulled something from a little pouch that was stowed under the seat. He returned my dagger and bag, saying, "I've heard these things are of great importance to you."

"They're all I have," I answered truthfully.

"What happened to your parents?"

"I don't know. I grew up in an orphanage, and after being adopted by really abusive people, I ran."

"I see," Chiron said, thoughtfully stroking his beard. I could practically see the gears turning in his head, trying to decipher who I was the child of. Hey, I'd like to know too, especially after finding out I could freeze time.

I had a sneaking suspicion as to who my parent was, but not even the Fates could be so cruel. Right? Last thing I needed was to be treated like a freak amongst demigods, returning me back to the way things had been back on my home.

"So, you know about the Greek gods?" Chiron asked timidly, as if he didn't know whether I was strong enough to handle such a conversation yet.

"Yes, I know that they're real and that they're in America because the flame of Western Civilization is burning here the brightest for the time being. I know that they have children, demigods, and this place is a safe haven for them. I know the Celestial bronze hurts monsters but won't hurt humans, and that as a demigod, I can be hurt by both mortal and godly weapons."

Chiron looked flabbergasted, clearly never meeting someone like me in the thousands of years he had been alive. He quickly hid his shock with a weak smile, trying to hide the fact that I had unnerved him.

I then stood up, sighing in relief when the world didn't go topsy-turvy. I followed Chiron out of the room and out of the house we were in – probably the Big House – leading me out to a wraparound porch that faced the camp. There were kids and satyrs playing volleyball in the sand pit, and at the same time, I saw two girls armed up to the teeth fighting each other with spears and shields. In the distance were the cabins, the weirdest assembly of buildings I've ever seen in the shape of a U around a large brazier. There was Hestia, tending silently to the flames as other campers rushed by without stopping to say hello.

"Wow," I sighed, truly amazed at what I was seeing. The scent of strawberries drifted in the wind, creating a very pleasant feeling of being at home back in my own garden. Off in the distance glittered Long Island Sound, the sun illuminating the ocean as if someone had dumped a hundred tons of Greek fire under the waves. "It's beautiful."

"Andy!" I heard Annabeth shout before barreling into me, holding me in a tight hug. "I thought you had died!"

I ruffled Annabeth's hair, much to her disdain, earning me a kick in the shins. She then started rambling about all the amazing things she had seen at camp and how welcoming her brothers and sisters in the Athena cabin were. "They have smartboards and hundreds of books and so much graph paper!" she exclaimed, her eyes glazed over in excitement. Leave it to a daughter of Athena to be excited about graph paper.

"That's great, kiddo," I said fondly, watching as Chiron tried to stifle his laughter. "How are Thalia, Luke, and Grover doing?"

Both Chiron and Annabeth stared at me like I had grown a second head. "You fought the three Kindly Ones, at least five hellhounds, countless other monsters, nearly died, and the first thing you ask is about your friends?" Annabeth said in shock. "Unbelievable."

I felt myself blushing. "Sorry, it's a force of habit. Anyways, can I go see them?"

Annabeth turned to Chiron for his approval. He waved his hand, smiling at the both of us as Annabeth took my hand and quite literally started yanking me into the camp proper, explaining everything as we passed to the best of her ability. After all, she had only been here for two days, and I seriously doubted she knew all the mechanics of how camp ran yet.

She took me down to the arena, a large cylinder erected completely out of polished marble. Various different windows were carved into the walls, making it appear to be like the Coliseum, but it was still whole, unlike the Coliseum in Rome.

At the thought of Rome, I inwardly winced. It was way too early to reveal that the Romans existed to the campers. Speaking of which, I'd need to head over to Camp Jupiter in the coming year. If I was right, Jason would be left at the mercy of whoever the praetors are at the tender age of three.

I was broken out of my thoughts by Annabeth whistling a taxi cab whistle that would've made any New Yorker proud. I looked up and saw Luke, Thalia, and Grover walking over to me, relieved smiles on all their faces.

"Thank the gods you're alive," Luke said, giving me his first genuine smile. Inwardly, my heart lurched at the thought of him going on his quest where Ladon would mar that face of his with a faint scar.

"It's going to take more than monsters to take me down," I joked, returning the smile.

Grover then wrapped me in a hug, muttering thank you over and over again. I knew he was under strict orders to only bring back Thalia, but there was no way she was going to abandon Annabeth and Luke.

"You helped me succeed," he said, blushing all the way down to his Adam's apple. "I can't thank you enough for that. Now, I might be able to get my searcher license!"

He smiled and gave me another hug before running off to the other satyrs, probably to tell them about his recent meeting with the Council of Cloven Elders. I didn't have the heart to tell Grover that Pan was going to die, and unfortunately for him and all the satyrs, the god's name was still on the list of people that were supposed to die.

Then I turned to Thalia. She was wearing a black _Death to Barbie_ t-shirt, navy blue jeans, and black boots. Silver chains hung from her jeans, reminding me of how scene kids used to dress in the early – oh, right, I _was_ in the early 2000s now. Her black hair had been recently cut, giving her a very pageboy style, keeping her bangs out of her face. The eyeliner she wore made her electric blue eyes pop, and then I realized, she was struggling not to cry.

"You saved me," she said, her voice wavering and full of emotion. "I was going to die, but you saved me."

"I couldn't let you get hurt," I told her gently, raising her face to look me in the eye. "I'll always have your back, Thalia. And that goes for all of you, too," I said, pointing at Annabeth and Luke. "I'll be there when you need me."

"Speaking of which," Luke said, gesturing for us to follow him to some picnic tables that were outside the forges. "How did you know about that Cyclops lair in Brooklyn? How did you know we were there?"

"I had a dream from Hermes that told me a kid of his was in danger. I woke up and found myself in the forest next to the building," I lied, watching as a myriad of emotions flashed across Luke's face. I know he still hated his father for what happened to his mom, but hopefully, by doing this, I would help prevent him from joining Kronos.

"My _dad_ sent you?" Luke asked incredulously. "Seriously?"

"Unless you know any other messenger god that responds to the name of Hermes, he was the one that sent me."

Before Luke could say anything else, a conch horn blew across the valley. Seeing that the sun was still high in the sky, I guessed that it was lunch time. Annabeth ran off to line up with the Athena cabin while Thalia, Luke, and I walked. I felt bad for Thalia, knowing that she had to sit by herself since her dad was Zeus, and I also felt bad for Luke, having to squeeze in to sit with at least twenty other kids from the Hermes cabin. And since I hadn't been claimed yet, I lined up with the Hermes cabin.

Chiron, now in his centaur form, approached the head table in the dining pavilion as someone else popped into existence at the table looking absolutely miserable. Mr. D had arrived wearing his infamous leopard print shirt, bright purple shorts, and holding a can of Diet Coke in his hand.

"Campers, I'd like to introduce you to the fourth demigod that was brought to us thanks to Grover Underwood. Rise, Andromeda…"

"Collins," I supplied before standing up.

"Right, Andromeda Collins. She defeated the three Kindly Ones so that her friends could make it to camp. Welcome, Miss Collins, to Camp Half-Blood."

I blushed at the theatrics of it all and quickly took my seat, hating the feeling of being stared at. Moments later, nymphs and dryads walked around the dining pavilion, setting a plate of smoked brisket, vegetables, and some bread in front of all the campers. Then, the tables got up one by one to the brazier, where we were supposed to offer up some of our food to our parents.

The Hermes table was the last one to walk up to the brazier, and after scraping in the juiciest part of my brisket, I found myself praying silently. _Please, tell me who you are,_ I prayed as I walked back to my seat. I didn't even know if I had a godly father or mother for crying out loud, so I was desperately waiting to be claimed.

We ate and joked for the entire duration of lunch, and once forty-five minutes were up, Chiron dismissed us to go back to our afternoon activities. I had learned from Luke that we had sword fighting next, bringing a smile to my face. Sure, I could hold my own with a dagger, but swords were by far my favorite weapons.

I went to join the others, but before I could go, I felt a hand rest on my shoulder, holding me in place. I looked up and saw Mr. D giving me a look of disgust, probably thinking, _Ew, another camper brat._

"Mr. D," I said, bowing my head in respect. By the time I was through, I was going to have many enemies, so no need in gaining any unnecessary ones. "Is something wrong?"

"If you mean other than being banished to this dreadful place, no, not really," he sighed, taking a seat on a chair of vines that suddenly wove themselves together. He then turned to a group of satyrs and ordered them to bring him some peeled grapes. The poor things nearly soiled themselves, but they bowed respectfully and disappeared, no doubt to go get the god's grapes.

"Then why have you kept me here?"

"To tell you something, Adriana."

"Andromeda."

"That's what I said! Anyhow, I came to tell you that my father has an eye on you. Thalia was not supposed to make it to camp alive, and because of you, she is here now, aging. Do you see the problem?" Dionysus said, visibly irritated, probably from being used as a messenger.

"That she's alive?" I questioned, feigning innocence even though I knew he was referring to the Great Prophecy. Thalia was currently twelve, and now that she hadn't died, she would be the child of the eldest gods that would turn sixteen. "Wouldn't Zeus want for his daughter to make it to camp safely?"

"Bah! You mortals understand nothing about the Fates and prophecy. Let's just say that by saving Thalia, you've doomed the rest of the world. Enjoy these next four years – they're all you have left."

Dionysus began to glow, and I turned away, knowing that if I looked, I'd be disintegrated. Gods of Olympus, the Fates did a great job of naming Mr. D as the god of theater, because he made that conversation more dramatic than it needed to be. At least I was aware that Zeus was watching me now, no doubt waiting to see what I would do next.

Great, now I was late for sword fighting, and better yet, I had no idea where to go. I looked around me, making sure no one was around, and pulled out _The Demigod Files_ from my bag, flipping open to the page that held a map of Camp Half-Blood. After orienting myself, I stashed the book away and made my way to the training area, where training had already began.

"You're late," the instructor, who was the head counselor for the Hermes cabin, said, earning me some snickers from the younger kids.

"Sorry, Mr. D summoned me," I replied, picking up a few swords until I found one that felt balanced in my hand. Too balanced, actually. Looking down at the hilt, I saw Salina's shooting star insignia branded against the leather.

Oh, that sneaky goddess!

This was the same sword she had me train with back home, a blade she had claimed was made specifically for me. It was the same three-foot long blade that felt perfect in my hand, the only exception being that it was now made of Celestial bronze rather than mortal steel.

"As punishment," the camper continued, ignoring my other comment completely, "you will spar with me, Andromeda."

"Oh, snap!" a kid from the sidelines shouted, but one look from me quickly shut them up.

"One, my name is Andy, not Andromeda. And two, I will gladly spar with you…"

"Noah," he supplied.

I gave him a terse nod before taking my bag off and handing it to Luke, reminding him that he was not to open it under any circumstances. After Luke promised he wouldn't open my bag, I stepped up to the raised platform and took my stance. On a silent agreement, the two of us lunged forward, our blades meeting in the middle.

Noah snarled at me, taking the offensive and pressing me hard. In a stupid move on my part, I sheathed my sword on my back and decided I would take this boy with my bare hands. I heard some gasping from the crowd, but as Noah made a deadly swipe for my head, I ducked and tackled him, sending the both of sprawling to the floor.

In his sudden daze, I slammed my foot down on the wrist holding his blade, causing for him to scream in pain. I wrenched Noah's sword out of his hand and pressed the tip against his throat, saying, "Dead," loud and clear so that my voice echoed around the arena in the silence.

After begrudgingly yielding, I helped Noah back to his feet. I then called for Luke to toss me my bag, and I pulled out some more gauze, wrapping Noah's wrist up. I wasn't sure if I had sprained or broken it, but I told him to get it checked out by an Apollo kid anyways.

"That was uncalled for," Noah grumbled under his breath, sheathing his sword at his waist.

"In real life, you don't have honorable fights," I reminded him, pressing the button at the bottom of my sword's hilt, allowing it to collapse into a tiny golden charm. Again, that was all Salina, choosing to give her gifts out in the form of charms that ended up on bracelets. "You asked for a spar, and that is what I gave you. If you wanted something more specific, you should've asked."

The rest of the Hermes cabin watched me with wide eyes, as if they were terrified Noah was going to skewer me for talking back to him. Noah said some unflattering words in Ancient Greek, before handing over training to me, saying he was going to get Howard Rodriguez from the Apollo cabin to check out his wrist.

For the rest of the time we had at the arena, I taught the Hermes kids one of my personal favorite moves that Salina had taught me: a backhand attack that forced your opponent to drop their weapon.

I split up the cabin into partners, and after realizing I'd paired everyone up except for Luke, I had him train with me. By the time the Ares cabin showed up for their training, we were all coated in sweat from the heat.

"What's next for our activities?" I asked Luke, pouring a bottle of water over my head, feeling strength surge back into my limbs.

My blood instantly ran cold.

Oh, no.

"We have Ancient Greek now," Luke scowled, like he'd rather spend the rest of the day sparring with me than have to learn how to conjugate Ancient Greek verbs. "Hey, are you okay? You look kinda pale."

"I'm fine," I lied, wiping the residual water off my face before picking up my bag and slinging it over my shoulder again. "Just got a little light-headed from the heat."

Luke didn't look convinced, but he shrugged and followed the rest of his cabin, running over to talk with two boys who looked like identical twins. If it wasn't for the fact that one was taller, I would've never been able to tell the difference between them. Oh, the Stoll brothers, I realized, smiling to myself as Luke bonded with them.

After a painfully long Ancient Greek class – don't get me wrong, I love to learn, but I dare you to sit still for three hours while being taught a dead language while dealing with ADHD – I went to hit the showers, my clothes stinking from training earlier.

On my way to the showers, I heard a girl laugh behind me. "Well, well, well. What do we have here? A newbie!"

I turned around, half-expecting to see Clarisse, but knew that that made no sense as she couldn't have been older than eight or nine at the moment. This girl was easily five foot eight, her biceps bulging underneath her XXL Camp Half-Blood shirt. Her eyes were a muddy brown and her hair was a mess of black on her head. I guessed that she was around my age, fifteen or sixteen, but by the way she held herself like a warrior, she could've easily passed off for at least twenty.

"Leave her alone, Holly!" someone from the Athena cabin shouted.

"Oh, the irony," I muttered under my breath, my hands curling into fists at my side.

"Shut up, bird for brains!" Holly hollered, causing for the little girl who had tried to defend me to cringe and walk away.

"What do you want with me?" I asked, taking the heat away from the little girl, drawing Holly's attention back to me. Fitting that the biggest bully at my school would now be the daughter of the biggest bully amongst the Olympians.

"We have a welcoming ritual for newbies," Holly sneered, some of her sisters running up to join the fun. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Thalia, Luke, and Annabeth glaring at Holly, leaving me wondering if she had done this to them too.

Her hand clamped around my neck like a vice, and she began dragging me towards the bathrooms. Oh, great, I thought as I allowed myself to be dragged across the commons area like a rag doll. So this is where Clarisse learned of this tradition.

"Ha! Powerful enough to defeat three Kindly Ones my butt!" Holly laughed, her sisters joining in with her ugly laughter.

As she kicked open the stall and tried to lower my head into the toilet, I felt a painful tugging in my gut. Instead of the toilets exploding as they had done with Percy, I looked down only to see myself fading into Holly's shadow until I was completely gone.

For a few terrifying seconds, I heard the voices of the dead scream as they rushed past. I kept my eyes shut until I felt my feet back on solid ground. When I opened my eyes, I was standing next to the brazier in the commons area, being spit out of Hestia's shadow like day old gum.

My knees wobbled from shock, and once I realized what had happened, I swore under my breath. First, I thought I understood, but now, I was more confused than ever. What the heck was going on with me?

I bowed to Lady Hestia, apologizing if I had frightened her by my sudden appearance. She gave me a warm smile and brushed off my apology, telling me that there was no need to apologize for something that was an accident. However, I couldn't shake the feeling that I thought that Hestia was watching me as I walked towards my friend, Holly shouting from the bathrooms.

"How the Hades did you escape Holly?" Thalia asked, looking at me shock.

"I genuinely I have no idea," I said, staring down at my hands, reassuring myself that I had come out of the shadows with all of me intact. Okay, so first I froze time, then I felt stronger after soaking myself, and now I shadow-traveled. All that was missing was for my hands to spark and I'd thoroughly be screwed.

Holly came running towards me, her sword in her hands, her face contorted into one of pure anger. I sighed and drew my sword by touching the sword charm that now dangled from a simply gold chain I had picked up from the forges earlier, preparing to counter the daughter of Ares' attack.

"You might want to back away," I told my friends. "This is going to get ugly."

I didn't move from my spot, waiting for Holly to engage. That way, if things went south, I wouldn't be blamed as she had started the fight. She swung down with both hands in a deadly downward arc, but I rolled out of the way and blocked another swing with my sword, an ugly clashing sound filling the air.

I had to hand it to her, Holly was very apt with her sword, forcing me to stay on the defensive for a while. But she made her deadly mistake when she overextended on a lunge, and I kicked her feet out from underneath her. She still tried to fight, struggling to her feet, but I held my sword like a bat and hit her blade right at the hilt, forcing her to let go or have her hand cut off.

Once her sword spiraled away from her, far out of her grasp, I pointed my sword down at her chest for three seconds. Then, I sheathed my sword and held a hand out to Holly. As much as I disliked her, she had fought honorably, and therefore, I would treat her with respect.

Holly didn't appreciate the gesture, shoving my hand away and getting up on her own accord, glaring at me the entire time. Like a wounded dog, although she wasn't hurt, she walked away, stopping only to pick up her discarded sword.

"You have made an enemy of the Ares cabin, girl," Holly seethed.

I shrugged. Could've been worse.

I then realized that we had drawn a crowd, and it wasn't until I told the campers to scram that they fled like terrified ants that had just gotten water poured on top of them. The only ones to stay by my side were Thalia, Annabeth, and Luke.

"Are you sure that was the best idea?" Annabeth asked, resting her hands on her hips.

"I wasn't going to get a swirly today, kid," I said, giving her a side hug. "Trust me, I'm not afraid of the Ares kids."

"They're going to kill you during capture the flag," Luke pointed out, gesturing over to where Noah and Howard were talking about making an alliance for tomorrow's game.

"I'd like to see them try. Now, I'm going to go take my shower. See you guys later."


	4. Chapter 4

That night, after lights out, I reached into my bag and pulled out the note Salina had left me, rereading it until the words were burned into my memory. She didn't know who my parent was, and seeing that the Fates hadn't shown up to tell me, I was just in the dark as Salina was.

I was tempted to Iris-message Rick Riordan to update him, but I figured as the official scribe of Olympus, he was well aware of what had changed so far. I reached into my bag again, taking out a tiny flashlight and the first book, _The Lightning Thief._ I flipped through the pages, reading the parts that talked about Thalia's pine tree.

All of a sudden, as the light touched those words, they disappeared, leaving the page blank. Then the page shimmered and a new story filled the page, talking about me and Thalia taking a stand against the monsters that wanted her dead. I also learned through the newly written paragraphs that Zeus had still created a new pine tree that was taller than any other tree in the valley and imbued it with magic to serve as the magical barrier that kept monsters and mortals out. Instead of being called Thalia's pine tree, the tree was now called the Crest of Camp Half-Blood.

Before anyone could see my greatest secret, I turned out the flashlight and shoved both the book and the flashlight back into my bag. Settling in on the sleeping bag on the floor, I adjusted my bag so that it was under my body while I slept. While Salina had blessed it to hold an infinite amount of things, there was no protection preventing someone from reaching inside and stealing from me. And seeing that I was surrounded by children of Hermes, the god of thieves, you can see why I was a little concerned.

I eventually fell asleep and found myself standing at the edge of a black hole, completely void of any warmth or color. Even I appeared to be black and white, my orange t-shirt and jeans fading to onyx black in the setting.

Tartarus, I thought to myself, clutching my bag tightly to myself. And if I was brought here in my dream, I knew with a sinking feeling who had summoned me to talk.

"Kronos?" I asked timidly, cursing at how weak I sounded. I was terrified out of my mind, but he couldn't know that, not when I was trying to foil his plans. Well, not so much foil as much as postpone.

"How do you know?" he hissed, his voice sounding like someone had taken a knife and dragged it across stone, reminding me of someone dragging their nails across a chalkboard. " _How do you know?!"_

"A hunch," I answered, trying to keep myself from visibly trembling in my boots.

"No, no, this simply won't do," he said coolly, but I could sense he was trying to conceal his anger and fear. "It's much too early for me to be discovered. We will meet again, daughter, this I promise."

The dream dissolved and now I found myself transported to an apartment on the Upper East Side. I don't know how I knew the location, but as I walked around the apartment, I knew where I was. Beer bottles, poker chips, dirty laundry, and a ton of other garbage were strewed around the room, and even though this was a dream, the repugnant order that filled the apartment was enough to make me want to hurl my dinner.

I forced myself to keep exploring, freezing dead in my tracks as I saw a walrus of a man slumped over in a tan recliner seat, an unopened bottle of beer still gripped in his hand. From the bathroom in the hallway, I could hear silent sniffling, but I wasn't sure if it was Percy or Sally.

I opened the door and found Percy sniffling quietly on the floor, picking out pieces of glass from his arm and chest with his mom's tweezers. He winced as he pulled out the glass, determined to stay as quiet as possible so that Smelly Gabe wouldn't come back to hurt him. Once all the glass was gone, he stepped into the shower, and Percy watched in fascination as the water healed his cuts.

I wanted to scream or go and kill Smelly Gabe with my own bare hands. Who was he to get off abusing a seven-year-old boy? Percy had a smart mouth, but that does not earn him beatings from an abusive stepfather.

Before I had a chance to go back into the kitchen and slit the jerk's throat myself, the door opened, revealing Sally Jackson. Dark bags were under her eyes, and gray streaks were starting to become more prominent in her black hair. She set her keys and purse on the kitchen countertop, shooting her deadbeat husband a malicious glare before sighing in resignation and tying her hair back into a messy bun.

I followed Sally as she stood outside the bathroom, cringing silently at hearing her son shower. I guess she was afraid that Smelly Gabe had hurt him and he was realizing that the water could heal him. And she would've been right.

Sally reached into her pocket, and I knew with absolute certainly she was tracing the charm I had given her. I could see her weighing the pros and cons of using my gift, but one look between Smelly Gabe and the door to the bathroom, and she had made her decision.

She waited outside the bathroom door until Percy came out in his superhero pajamas, flinching as he was not expecting his mother to be right outside the door. "Mom?" he asked softly, trying to read her expression. "What's going on?"

"Pack a bag," she told Percy, giving the charm a final squeeze before setting her hands on his shoulder. "Be quick and quiet about it. We're leaving."

"For real?" Percy asked, his sea green eyes lighting up with hope.

"Yes, now hurry before Gabriel wakes up."

Before I could see how that dream ended, I was jerked awake by Connor Stoll, who had a way too playful smile on his face. My hands flew to my bag first and my bracelet second, both of which were still with me.

"Time to wake up, Andy," Connor chirped happily, before moving onto the next camper who had been on the floor next to me.

I wiped my eyes and got up, rolling up my sleeping bag into a pack and shoving it into my bag, earning myself some weird looks from some of the other campers. I brushed off their looks and helped the older kids help organize the rest of the cabin, because there was no way I was going to end up on kitchen duty for sloppiness.

Although the other kids would never know this, I felt right at home in the Hermes cabin, feeling as if I had gone back to Mrs. Stetson's orphanage and was cleaning up my room with Leah while she blasted some obscure indie-rock band that she loved.

I swept the floors while Noah helped the younger kids roll up their sleeping bags, Luke helped make the beds, and Connor and Travis Stoll tag-teamed dusting the whole place. The other kids hastily threw dirty laundry under beds, thinking that would be better than placing them in the hamper that was literally two feet away.

The conch horn sounded, and we all fell in line in order of seniority, meaning I was dead last. The morning rays made the dew on the grass sparkle like thousands of little diamonds, filling the whole valley with a beautiful golden glow. Cabin Seven, Apollo, glowed so brightly that I thought if someone were to look at the cabin without sunglasses, they'd be blinded instantly.

After breakfast, Noah told me that we were free to do whatever until after lunch, where we would have to go to Chiron's archery class and then arts and crafts for the rest of the afternoon. I smiled softly to myself as Noah informed the rest of us that we had a Capture the Flag game tonight, already thinking up of dozens of different battle strategies that would work in our benefit.

I decided to follow the Demeter cabin down to the strawberry fields and helped them cultivate the ripe strawberries while planting new seeds in their places. I smiled as I worked, once again feeling nostalgic for my garden back home, comfortable with planting and harvesting strawberries into huge baskets for the satyrs to take to the vans that led into the mortal world.

Chiron told me that the camp grew strawberries to cover their expenses, and seeing that they had a resident wine god, plants grew crazy fast in his presence. But due to his restrictions, Dionysus was prohibited from growing grapes, so the camp settled for strawberries.

I worked alongside the Demeter cabin for a few hours, loving the feeling of the sun on my skin as I pulled weeds, dirt caking my pants and boots and sweat pouring down my face. I struck up a conversation with Fiona Reynolds, a daughter of Demeter, while we pulled weeds and planted seeds.

Of course, I managed to mess up whatever chance I had at her friendship there when she looked up from her row of strawberries and stared at me in abject terror. I frowned, looking down at myself to see if I had started glowing gold again. Thankfully, I wasn't.

"What's wrong?" I asked Fiona, clapping my hands together to shake off the excess dirt.

"The strawberries," she spluttered out, her face white as a sheet as she raised a hand and pointed at the last two rows I had been working on.

"What about them?"

"Look!"

I turned around and gasped at what I saw.

Earlier, the field we were working in was completely void of any plants, simply being identical rows of dirt with holes periodically placed in the ground. Now, the rows where I had planted seeds were full of life. Strawberry plants that had been seeds mere minutes ago were now full on plants, going so far as to the majority of the strawberries were already bright red and ripe for the picking.

Sure enough, the last seed I had just planted started to glow green, and two seconds later, a fully grown strawberry plant was sitting in front of me and Fiona, who stared at the plant like it was going to grow limbs and strangle her to death.

She stood up and ran, saying that I was cursed by Demeter. I frowned at her choice of words. Wouldn't this be a blessing from Demeter as the goddess of the harvest? Last I checked, the majority of her children could grow anything as long as they had the seeds. I mean, those tulips on the roof of the Demeter cabin had been grown today before cabin inspections.

Before anyone else could come and gawk at what a freak I was, I left the strawberry fields and headed for the armory. If I was going to come out of Capture the Flag in one piece, I needed to get myself some armor.

I met up with James Turner, the head counselor for the Hephaestus cabin, who helped me get fitted with my armor. Afterwards, he told me he could add stuff to it if I'd liked, but I told him not to worry about it. Armor was made to be worn into battle, not to look pretty.

"By the way," James said before I left, "I think what you did to Holly was awesome. She needed to be taken down a notch."

"Thanks," I said, my face a bright red. It wasn't that I had a crush on him or anything, but I hated being praised for the things I did. I do what I think is right and that's the end of the story. I didn't need my deeds immortalized in writing when there were thousands of more heroic things happening in the world.

During lunch, I felt the stares of dozens of campers watching me as I ate. It was so awkward that not even the kids in the Hermes cabin wanted to talk to me. No, they'd much rather talk _about_ me even though I was sitting right next to them.

Luke took pity on me and tried to start up a conversation, but the entire time, he stared at my hands like he was expecting the grapes I was eating to grow to the size of a wrecking ball. I stood up halfway through lunch and left the dining pavilion, heading for Thalia's pine tree. I knew it wasn't called that anymore, but to me, it will always be Thalia's pine tree.

I sat right on the border of Camp Half-Blood debating if I should go into the city to check on Sally and Percy, but I was afraid if I left, Dionysus would have my hide. Also, I acknowledged that if I went to check on Percy, that would alert his presence to Zeus, and I wanted him to have a few more years of normalcy before being flung into the crazy chaos that was my new life.

 _My child, why are you so sad?_ Salina's voice whispered in my mind.

I looked up at the sky, but it was still day, meaning that there were no other stars other than the sun visible. I'd feel better if it was nighttime, where I could see a shooting star and be certain that Salina was talking to me.

"I'm an outcast amongst outcasts," I grumbled, picking at the blades of grass surrounding the base of the tree.

 _And why do you think that?_

Okay, now I knew Salina was definitely here.

"All the campers look at me as if I had leprosy or smallpox. Ever since these powers of mine have started manifesting, no one other than Luke, Annabeth, and Thalia. And even then, they look at me with pity, like they're sorry for what's happening to me."

 _They're afraid,_ Salina told me. _And rightfully so. I spoke with the Fates earlier and they revealed your father to me. I know why your powers are acting so weirdly and why you have developed what you have._

"Let me guess," I said miserably, "you can't tell me anything."

 _I'm sorry, Andromeda, but if I tell you the truth, everything will go back to the way it was. The Fates ordained it to be this way. Even now I risk much by contacting you._

"At least you care. You gave me my bag, my books, and my weapons. You gave me the knowledge I need to succeed. Although this kind of sucks right now, I'm thankful you're watching over me."

 _I'll always be here, my daughter. Remember, I'm there whenever you make a wish._

Salina's presence disappeared as quickly as it had come, and I suddenly yearned to see her again, for her to wrap her arms around me and tell me that I was her strong warrior. Even if she had pushed me past my breaking point for over a year, she did it out of love for me, and I wouldn't ever be able to repay her for that.

I skipped the rest of my activities and dinner that day, only reappearing once I heard the conch horn blow two times, meaning that our evening activity was about to start. On my way into the forest, I did the straps on my armor the way Salina had taught me and picked up a shield so big that even Captain America would be jealous as I stood in line with the rest of the Hermes cabin.

"Where have you been?" Luke demanded, jabbing me in the ribs with his elbow. Bad move on his part as my ribs were protected by my armor. His elbow wasn't.

"At the border," I answered, finding no reason why I should lie to him. "I needed time to think."

"About what?"

"Don't worry about it," I told him, relief washing over me as Chiron walked towards the center of where we were all standing. A huge metal whistle hung around his neck, big enough to probably get dogs from as far away as Eighty-Second Street to come running. He stomped his front hooves twice, gaining everyone's attention.

"Heroes," he said, shutting up anyone who was still dumb enough to be talking. "Tonight we play Capture the Flag. The Ares cabin currently holds the laurels, and as such, they get first pick of the forest tonight. But first, some ground rules. No intentional maiming or killing. All magical items are fair game. And tricks and traps are to be expected. Good luck to both teams."

The red team decided to take the south side of the forest, and with that, Chiron shouted, "Begin!" waving his hand over a table that rapidly filled with weapons.

Before anyone could stop me, I grabbed two daggers and ran back to join the Hermes cabin. Thankfully, no one had noticed, and I shoved the daggers into matching sheaths at my belt. My bag was currently a charm on my bracelet, so it was there if I needed it without getting in my way.

On the blue team we had Athena, Hermes, and Apollo, the three biggest cabins, while the red team had everyone else, including Thalia as she was the only member of the Zeus cabin. Chores and shower time slots had been exchanged to create the blue team, but I had a feeling it would be well worth it. I trudged forward in the dark, only stopping when I felt someone tugging at my shirt. I looked down and saw Annabeth, her armor surprisingly fitting her even though she was only seven and way too young to be running around with a dagger. Then again, all normal rules get thrown out the window when you're a demigod.

"What's the plan, kiddo?" I asked, picking up the pace so we weren't left behind.

"Half the Apollo and Athena kids are going to be direct offensive while the rest of us scout from behind. The Hermes cabin will stay here as our defense."

"Where should Luke and I go?"

"You two are border patrol. Go to the river on the western boundary, and don't let anyone through."

"We've got this!"

"Athena always has a plan," Annabeth said happily before putting on her Yankee cap and disappearing.

I got Luke and we walked over to the western boundary, where there was a river flowing. Subconsciously, my hand went to my bracelet where my bag was concealed. This was the same river Percy was claimed at, the one that healed him after nearly being killed by that hellhound, the one that nearly drowned Thalia when the two fought in the winter.

Wow, who knew I could geek out so much over a river?

Call me crazy, but something told me it was a good idea to stand in the river, despite the fact that the water immediately soaked through my shoes and socks. Luke acted like I was crazy, but he brushed it off, moving farther downstream to cover more while I stayed closer to the flag, prepared to fight if it came to that.

Sure enough, three campers wearing red-plumed helmets came running out of the bushes, charging directly at me. "Smash her face in!" the lead girl, who I recognized as Holly, barked at her two comrades.

Luke was too far gone to come and help me, but I was able to hold my ground against the two other kids. One of them I incapacitated by whacking them over the head with the hilt of my sword, but the second backed up, extremely wary of me.

"You coward!" Holly roared at the other camper, shoving them back into the tree line. "Go defend or something if you're not going to attack!" That camper booked it out of there, running as far away from Holly as they could.

Holly then turned her attention to me and unleashed all her pent up anger towards me. I knew this was a game, but I don't think anyone told Holly. I was genuinely concerned that she wanted to kill me.

In the little time I was distracted, Holly jabbed at my arm with her spear, reopening the scratches I had gotten from one of the Furies. I didn't have time to inspect the wound but still felt the dizzy warm sensation from knowing that my blood had been spilt.

"Pansy," she spat, narrowly grazing my thigh with her spear. "Too afraid to even try to hurt me."

"No intentional maiming," I told her through gritted teeth, fending off yet another attack, exhaling harshly as I felt something slice open my thigh. Standing behind me was an archer wearing a red-plumed helmet, and her arrow had nicked me.

"Oops," Holly said with a cruel smile as she pressed a button on the spear's shaft, a harsh blue light illuminating the whole thing. "There go my dessert privileges."

I was so angry that all I could see was red. I don't know why this Holly or the original Holly had it so out for me. Back on my Earth, she had everything she could've ever wanted. She had rich, loving parents, popularity, a boyfriend who would move Heaven and Hell for her, yet the only fun she had was beating the snot out of me. This Holly, the daughter of the war god, may have had a completely different upbringing than my Holly, but they both shared one thing in common: they wanted me dead.

I screamed, every bitter and angry feeling I've ever felt towards Holly exploding out of my body in one massive wave of power. I heard Holly and the archer scream in terror, yelling in Ancient Greek as I collapsed to my knees, completely spent.

It took a few seconds, but with the water rushing past me, I regained enough strength to stand without wobbling. Campers from across the forest came rushing in my direction, the game forgotten as they thought there had been an attack. They all stared at me, scared out of their minds.

I looked around and winced. I don't know exactly what had happened, but all around me, it appeared as if a bomb had gone off. There was smoke curling off the edges of some trees and bushes while the ground had been blasted away from me, leaving me in a huge circle of dirt rather than the natural flow of the stream. My clothes were steaming; the hair on my arms had been completely singed off.

And while all of that was terrifying on its own, my heart lurched in my chest when I saw my friends looking at me like a monster. Annabeth's gray eyes were wide with fear, and she hid behind Luke's leg, the flag from the red team in his hand, that glory no longer important. Thalia threw her helmet down to the floor and was downright glaring at me, as if she were saying, _How dare you destroy my home?_

"Chiron," I said weakly, my voice cracking. "What's happening to me?"

"You just torched half the forest!" Holly shouted angrily, storming through the frozen demigods to slap me across the face. My head snapped to the side, and I knew a bruise would be there later. "You're not a demigod; you're a monster!"

A bunch of kids took up the cry, calling me gods awful names in both English and Ancient Greek. I just stood there and took the insults nonchalantly. I didn't care what the rest of the camp thought of me, I just wanted to know that my friends weren't afraid of me.

Luke whispered something to Annabeth, met my gaze for a painful second, and turned away, walking back to camp with Annabeth in tow. I turned to Thalia, but she couldn't even meet my eyes. She shook her head in sorrow and ran to join Annabeth and Luke, turning her back on me.

"Enough!" another voice shouted. Appearing next to Chiron in a purple glow with the faint scent of grapes blowing in the wind, Dionysus appeared, his expression one of sheer annoyance. "The game is over; the blue team won. All of you have exactly two minutes to return to your cabins before I allow the cleaning harpies to eat anyone breaking curfew!"

Needless to say, the campers scattered, hauling it back to their cabins. I went to join the rest of the Hermes cabin, but Mr. D said, "Not you, Andrew. You're coming with me."

"Where are we going?" I asked, but I had a feeling I already knew the answer. It was the same way I was completely certain I knew who my father was. That explosion I had created had been the last piece of evidence I needed to figure it out.

"Olympus."

I didn't even have a chance to say goodbye to Chiron before Dionysus whisked the both of us away.

* * *

 **Okay, so quick note about updates before I go. A lot of this story is already prewritten, so it's only a matter of me finding the time to update.**

 **However, seeing that I am taking 4 AP classes, 1 Dual Enrollment class, and my other 2 classes are honors, I barely have time to breathe, let alone find time to update.**

 **I want to try to update once a week, maybe two if I have the time, but nothing is set in stone yet.**

 **I love you all! Thank you for reading!**


	5. Chapter 5

I appeared in the throne room of the gods, my stomach churning violently from the sudden transportation. Sure, I'd jumped through a portal and accidently shadow-traveled once, but the form of wind travel that some of the gods used was not good for my stomach. But there was no way I was going to lose my lunch in front of the gods, so I held my stomach and kneeled in Zeus' direction.

He was wearing a dark blue pinstriped suit, and his black hair came down to his shoulders. He had a gray and black well-trimmed beard, and while that may have made him look somewhat normal, his shockingly blue eyes and proud, stern face scared the living daylights out of me. As he bristled at my direction, I could smell the ozone in the air, and much to my chagrin, I saw little sparks jumping between my fingers.

 _Stop it,_ I thought to myself, glaring at my hands while keeping my head low. Zeus probably already wanted me killed a few days ago when I intervened to save Thalia, but all I could wish for at the moment was that he would hear me out.

All around the throne room, the gods looked at me in curiosity, like I was the newest specimen they'd gotten to observe under their microscope. They'd even summoned Lord Hades, who was staring at me in confusion from Hestia's hearth.

Right when I thought my ADHD would get the better of me, Zeus told me in a thundering voice, "Rise, young demigod."

I slowly got to my feet, keeping eye contact with him as I let my arms dangle to my sides, trying to convey innocence. I mean, I was innocent anyways. It's not like I had a choice in who my father was, or else I would've asked the Fates to make me a daughter of Poseidon in a heartbeat. That would've been nothing compared to who I thought my father was.

"Who are you?" the goddess directly to the right of Zeus, Hera, asked.

While I wanted to smack the Queen of Olympus upside the head for everything she had done to the seven, I bit my tongue, reminding myself that the events in the books hadn't come to pass yet.

"My name is Andromeda Collins," I told them, keeping my voice steady without sounding prideful. "I'm fourteen years old, and I recently arrived at Camp Half-Blood. I don't know who my godly parent is as I grew up an orphan and ran away from the abusive couple that adopted me."

Okay, let me explain the fourteen-years-old thing before anything else happens. While I had been sixteen back on my Earth, Salina told me that by jumping through the portal, my age could be screwed up. Nothing dramatic, like I wasn't going to go from sixteen to four or to eighty-three, but my age could differ within a three year range. When I kept lookout one night on our way to camp, I had asked Salina how old I was, and she told me the portal had made me fourteen years old on this Earth.

"You're positive you don't know who your parent is?" Athena asked me, her gray eyes staring so intensely at me that I was waiting to burst into flames. Ooh, bad wording. I didn't need to go supernova again anytime soon.

"I haven't been claimed, Lady Athena," I told her respectfully. "And I don't even know if my mother or if my father is the reason I'm a demigod. The orphanage I grew up in couldn't identify anyone as my parents, but they took me in anyways and raised me as their own child. The only thing that was left with me was a blank piece of paper with my name written on it."

"Andromeda," Zeus mused, "just like the wife of Perseus. It's not a common name, as I'm sure you know, so whoever your mortal parent was knew enough about us to give you such a name."

"I figure I was named Andromeda as she and her husband had a happy ending, something of a rarity in the ancient times," I replied, slightly surprised at how laid back Zeus was being. But I knew better. All it would take was one word out of place and he would fry me with the Master Bolt without a second thought.

"Brother, you're rambling," Hades scolded him, his obsidian black eyes watching my every move like a hawk. I shuddered at the sudden chills I got, and truth be told, I don't know if that was out of fear or because of Hades.

"Yes, why have you called a council to introduce us to this demigod?" Artemis asked from her throne, absentmindedly plucking at the string of her silver bow.

Seeing the goddess in person was a bittersweet feeling, because even though both Zoe and Bianca's names had transferred onto the people to save list, two of her Hunters, Jasmine and Atalanta, were destined to die in their places. The Fates told me to change the future, but they couldn't just up and save everyone, or the balance between life and death would be upset. For every person I saved, someone else had to die.

"Her actions at Camp Half-Blood have warranted this meeting," Dionysus said, shocking the majority of the council. He scowled at their expressions and lowered his wine magazine. "Just because I'm the god of wine doesn't mean I don't care about our well-beings. This girl is dangerous."

"How so?" Poseidon asked Mr. D.

"Why talk about it when I can just show you?" Apollo offered, and I took a step back, not wanting to be touched by the sun god. Not that I was afraid of him, but I hated being touched by people I didn't trust, and I'm sorry, but after learning how Apollo's mind worked, there was no way I was letting him into my mind.

"Please, don't touch me," I whimpered, biting the inside of my lip so tears were forced to well in my eyes. Let's just say I could play the role of a victim very well.

"Leave her alone, Apollo," Artemis hissed, shooting her brother the stink eye. "She doesn't trust males after being abused, I'm sure." I nodded at her statement, going along with her. "No god may touch Andromeda for the remainder of this meeting unless they get her explicit permission, understood?"

"Thank you, Lady Artemis," I said while bowing to her.

"Anything for a young maiden, but I'm afraid my idiotic brother was right for once. It's much easier for us to look into your memories rather than speak about them."

"I will allow for a goddess to display my memories to the Olympians," I agreed. "If you are really that concerned about my existence, maybe this will ease those fears."

"Do you have anyone in particular you'd prefer?" Demeter asked through a mouthful of cereal, bringing the faintest traces of a smile on my face.

I glanced over at the hearth, where Hestia had her back turned on the council, tending happily to the flames and humming an old melody under her breath. "If she doesn't mind," I began, "I wish for Lady Hestia to be the one to display my memories."

"Hestia?" Aphrodite questioned, looking up from her mirror for the first time. "Why her?"

"Watch it," Poseidon growled, gripping onto the business end of his trident so tightly I thought he was going to snap it in half. "That's my sister you're disrespecting."

Hestia blushed at all the sudden attention, but she agreed to what was asked of her. She turned from an eight-year-old to looking more around my age, anywhere between fourteen and seventeen. She brushed her chocolate brown hair back behind her ear, tucking it into her shawl before pressing a finger to my forehead, an image projecting itself in the middle of the throne room like we were in a movie theater except the image was 3-D.

I knew that all the memories up until this week were fake as a result of the Mist, but the part about my being at the orphanage was heavily based off my real experiences back home. The memories about being abused came directly from what I saw Percy go through and stories I heard through some of my friends at the orphanage who had ended up there because of deadbeat parents.

The only real memories were the ones of this week, starting from when I woke up in the middle of the forest next to the abandoned car factory where the Cyclops had been holding Thalia and Luke while Annabeth and Grover tried to save them. They saw everything, but thankfully, my interaction with Sally Jackson and my dreams had been hidden, most likely thanks to some godly interference. As for the part where they saw me reading, the Mist changed the title of the book to read _The Cambridge Guide to Greek Mythology._ Athena had beamed at that part.

Any time my powers flared up, the gods shared similar looks of concerned and conversed in rapid fire Greek, too fast for me to pick up anything more than a few words. The image cut off after I had asked Chiron for help, leaving the gods staring at the floor of the throne room as they stared at me, like they were unsure about what I was.

Their guess was as good as mine.

"You're extremely powerful," Hades said at last, breaking the tense silence. "But your powers are still very unpredictable. From what I saw, they react at times when your emotions are strongest. You're dangerous, Andromeda."

"That's nothing that can't be fixed with some training," Athena said, shooting her uncle a scathing look. "She can become a very powerful ally for us."

"I'd feel better if she swore allegiance to Olympus," Hera said, staring at me with a blank expression, like she wasn't sure if she wanted to smite me or smile at me. "With this kind of power, I'd like knowing that she wouldn't join any of our enemies."

"Why would I do that?" I asked. "The gods have shown me nothing but kindness ever since I learned of your existence. I have no reason to betray Olympus."

"I agree with my wife," Zeus said, shutting me up instantly. "I thank you for helping those demigods to camp, but you cannot be left unchecked by Olympus. Since I feel merciful today, I will give you two options. Either swear allegiance to Olympus or join the Hunters of Artemis if you wish to live, Andromeda. If not, I'm afraid we must kill you where you stand."

The decision didn't take longer than a second.

I kneeled at the foot of Zeus' throne and said in a loud and clear voice, "I, Andromeda Lilliana Collins, hereby promise to serve Olympus to the best of my ability and to never betray the gods on my own free will. This is swear on the River Styx."

"Are you sure you want to swear on the Styx?" Hades said solemnly, like I didn't know what I was doing.

"This I swear on the River Styx," I repeated with conviction, standing up as thunder roared across the clear sky.

The Olympians seemed placated by my vow, Zeus especially. I felt a lot better knowing that the gods didn't doubt my loyalty, because I knew it was going to be put to the test in the next upcoming years. I'd probably be interrogated about Percy, and seeing that I planned on leaving Camp Half-Blood for the year, I'd be questioned about that too. I needed to talk with Hades later, but right now, baby steps.

All of a sudden the Olympians gasped in…fright?

Great, what happened now?

Aphrodite and Demeter had dived behind their thrones, peaking from behind the seats to look at me. Hephaestus was so surprised he dropped whatever he was working on and summoned a ball of fire to chuck at me. The rest of the gods weren't much better, each one of them had their weapon trained on me. The only exception was Hestia, whose eyes were full of so much fear she had disappeared into the hearth to get away from me. Even Hera, who I've never heard of picking up a weapon after the first Titan War, had summoned a gold staff with a lotus on the end, pointed directly at me.

Glancing down at my skin, I saw that I was glowing gold, like Apollo, except this light was much harsher and more primal. My camp clothes melted away in a swirl of gold dust, leaving me in a sleeveless white chiton with a neckline so low I was thoroughly embarrassed. Delicate gold armbands encircled my biceps. My braided hair now flowed down past my shoulders, and I could feel that something had been woven in, but I didn't know what.

By now, the glow was already fading, but I still looked up and felt my heart sink to my feet. Glowing right above my head was a golden hourglass and scythe crisscrossed like an X – the symbols of Kronos.

"Oh, gods," I choked out. "How is this possible? I thought you chopped him into a million pieces!"

"I think maybe you have the answer to that, traitor," Zeus roared, ready to chuck the Master Bolt at me.

"I didn't ask to be his child!" I shrieked. "I know nothing of my conception! I don't even know who my mother was!"

 _Don't fret, my daughter,_ Kronos' steely voice said in my mind, his presence like someone had shoved a spike between my eyes. _They won't kill you, but I don't have such qualms. Turning against your own father, tsk, tsk. I shall kill you myself for your treason._

"Get out of my head! _Get out!"_ I shouted, pounding my fists against my skull even though I knew it was useless. I pulled at my hair like I was about to rip it out of my scalp, screaming over and over again for Kronos to leave, but he seemed perfectly content to laugh, tormenting me to no end.

 _We will see each other again soon, Andromeda. And don't forget, from now on we are enemies._

I had been so consumed by trying to Kronos out of my mind that I hadn't even noticed what had been going on with the gods. As I slowed my breathing down so that I wasn't hyperventilating, I saw that both Poseidon and Hades were holding Zeus down while Hera sat on his hands, preventing him from using his Master Bolt.

"You're traitors! The whole lot of you!" Zeus shouted like a petulant child. "Her father is going to kill us all! She'll corrupt our children, make them join him instead of us!"

"Did you ever pause to think, Lord Zeus, that we share the same father?" I told him, raising my eyebrows at him. "Technically, I'm your half-sister. You trust in Poseidon, Hades, Hera, Demeter, and Hestia, all of whom were born of Kronos and Rhea, just like yourself. I saved your daughter, Lord Zeus, and I pledged myself to Olympus while also swearing on the Styx. I will _never_ serve Kronos, father or not."

"She's right, Father," Athena and Artemis said. Well, they both said something along those lines, and I just decided to combine it into one sentence.

"We'll train her on Olympus," Hermes added, shooting me a not so subtle wink. I had a feeling he would want to talk with me later. "That way, we can keep an eye on her, and she can gain our trust. We can send her to bring our children to camp, so they'll be prepared when _he_ decides to attack."

"I agree with Hermes," Apollo added quickly, smiling at me. I would've smiled back, but I was rubbing my eyes, blinded by how white his teeth were. Note to self: start carrying sunglasses at all times around him.

"We'll vote on it," Zeus grumbled, "but first, if my loving wife and brothers would so kindly get off of me, please and thank you."

I stifled a laugh at that, watching as Hera snatched Zeus' bolt while Hades and Poseidon helped him to his feet. Hera waved the Master Bolt at Zeus in a patronizing way, as if to say, _You'll get this back when you start behaving like an adult._

"Alright, alright," Zeus sighed, thoughtfully scratching his beard. "All in favor of training the girl on Olympus and sending her out for our own missions? Hades and Hestia, please vote as well."

Out of the fourteen gods, ten gods raised their hands. The four that had abstained were Zeus (of course), Ares (probably upset about Holly), Dionysus (the feeling's mutual), and Hades (shocker…not).

"The motion is passed. Andromeda will come to live on Olympus and shall be under our supervision. She is permitted to leave if she asks for permission or if one of us sends her to do something. Are the terms acceptable?"

"Yes, Lord Zeus, they are more generous that I could ask for," I said politely, giving him a curtsey just to sweeten the pot or tick him off, I wasn't sure which.

"Then I adjourn this council," Zeus said, flashing out in a huge bolt of lightning. The gods began flashing out one by one, but a couple stayed behind, clearly wanting to talk to me. The first of those gods, to my surprise, was Hades.

He was just as terrifying as Rick Riordan had described him. His black eyes were those of a madman, but there was also deep sadness rooted in them as well. His skin was paler than freshly fallen snow, making the darkness of his clothes all the more shocking, especially when his robes shimmered with the faces of damned souls cropped up to the surface.

"I don't trust you, girl, but if the council has voted to let you live, so be it. I'll be watching you," Hades told me, his aura making me want to take an eternal nap at his feet or jump off a cliff, whichever was most convenient for him.

"Wait, Lord Hades," I said before he could disappear. He turned to face me, his infamous sneer glued onto his face. "I know about Nico and Bianca," I said in a whisper, watching as his expression changed into one of fear and panic hidden behind a mask of steely calm.

"And what do you intend to do with that information?"

"Well, now that I serve Olympus, I could free them from their holding and deliver them to you. Or I could lead them to camp if you wish. It's all the same to me, sir."

Hades was silent for a few seconds, probably thinking of what was in it for me by saving his children. Then, whatever hope had been in his eyes died immediately. "You serve Olympus," he spat bitterly, "and I'm not an Olympian."

"You're still the eldest son of Kronos," I pointed out. "And while you may not be considered an Olympian by your family, you still deserve as much respect as the rest of them. When I made my oath, you and Hestia were already included in them. If you ever need someone in the mortal world, I will do what you ask of me, no questions asked."

Hades' gaze softened from steel to rock, but he clearly believed me as he hadn't tried to kill me. "I will remember your offer, Andromeda," he said at last. "I may just take you up on it one day." Then Hades waved his hand, and he disappeared, melting into the shadows.

The other gods that had remained in the room were Poseidon, Athena, and Hermes. I decided to talk with Athena first, knowing that if she and Poseidon stayed in the same room for too long, bad things would happen.

All Athena wanted to tell me was that my training began with her next Monday at her palace promptly at eight in the morning. Before she left, she thanked me for guiding Annabeth to camp, and then she disappeared in a column of smoke.

Hermes approached me next, and as I suspected, he was asking about Luke. I told him everything he needed to know, making him very happy. He then asked, "Why did you lie to Luke about why you saved him? We both know I didn't send you to the Cyclops lair that night."

In a nervous habit of mine, I rubbed my wrist that held my bracelet. "Let's just say I know some stuff about Luke's fate and am trying to prevent the outcome. I've had some dreams with different endings, none of them very good. But sometimes, Luke survives, and I'd rather that than the alternative."

"But you can't change fate," Hermes said sternly in a very father-like tone. "The harder you fight against a prophecy, the more likely it is to come true."

"I'm aware of that, Lord Hermes. I may not be completely successful, but if I did the job I was assigned correctly, Luke doesn't have enough reasons to join my father. Thalia is still alive. He believes I was sent by you to help them. For the time being, this is enough."

"How can you be so sure?" Hermes asked, his eyes searching my own, trying to see if I was telling the truth. And I was. That detail had changed, too. I knew who would become my father's vessel instead of Luke, meaning that Luke was destined to survive the upcoming war.

"You just have to trust me on this, Lord Hermes," I said, hoping that my words were reassuring enough. "Luke won't betray us."

Hermes nodded sadly, probably thinking that I was a naïve young girl making rash promises I couldn't keep. Then his caduceus, which was in cell phone mode, began vibrating, and he shot it a scathing glare before resignedly picking it up, walking a few paces, and disappearing who-knows-where.

Poseidon was the last god that wanted to talk to me, wearing a sheepish expression as he approached me. I had a feeling he was going to ask about Percy, so before he said anything, I said, "Lord Poseidon, I need to show you something that I refused to show the others. It was for his safety."

His eyes widened. "You know?"

"I do, my lord. I give you permission to access my memories."

Poseidon pressed a finger against my forehead, and like before, my memories turned into a 3-D image projected in front of the two of us. The memory of running into Sally at the Sweet on America candy shop surfaced, and I allowed Poseidon to watch my conversation with Sally. I also gave him access to my recent dream about Sally and Percy, the one where the two had finally left that deadbeat, Smelly Gabe.

He pulled his hand away, a smile resting casually on his lips. "You really loved her, didn't you?" I asked Poseidon, watching as he gazed wistfully at Sally's fading body.

"I did," Poseidon answered, his smile fading now that the images had vanished. "She is the only mortal woman I have truly fallen in love with. While it's true that I had the most children in the ancient days, they were mainly the results of having too much nectar to drink or trying to show off to Zeus. Sally, she's a queen among women. I offered to stop the tide for her, and she called me crazy. While I can't help but regret the fate that now rests upon his shoulders, I'm glad Sally has another family member."

"Did you ever ask Lord Zeus about the circumstances surrounding the death of Sally's parents?"

Poseidon's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "How did you know about that? The only ones who know about that are me and her son."

"Like I told Lord Hermes, I get really vivid dreams. Sometimes they are of the past, sometimes I see possibilities for the future. Heck, I've witnessed the present a handful of times," I replied with a shrug.

"I see." He didn't sound convinced. "And, for your information, my brother didn't have anything to do with Sally's parents dying. Something went wrong with the engines and the computers half way through the flight, and when the plane crashed, everyone died in the explosion from the fuel catching on fire."

I winced at the thought. Although I've never been on a plane, the thought of being in a metal tube thirty thousand feet in the air was absolutely terrifying for me.

"Sorry for bringing that up, my lord. Now, is there anything else you require of me before I take my leave?"

"Yes, there is one thing I need for you to do." Poseidon reached into his pockets of his khaki shorts, the kind someone would wear to the beach, and pulled out a blue ballpoint pen. "Guard this for me, will you? I tend to lose things a lot being the god of the sea, even a magical sword, for instance."

" _Anaklusmos,"_ I whispered, holding the pen as if it was a stick of dynamite. "Riptide."

"So you've heard of the blade? Good, that's good. As you know, the sword is enchanted to return to its owner no matter the distance, and for the time being, it's yours. I want you to hold onto Anaklusmos for me until my son comes of age. Once he reaches camp, I'd like for you to give the pen to him and to let him know that it was a gift from me."

"Of course, Lord Poseidon," I said, tapping my charm on my bracelet, causing for my bag to appear. I placed Riptide into my bag, redid the brooch, and returned my bag back to its charm form. Somehow I knew that if Aphrodite caught me wearing my black bag over my chiton, she'd freak.

Poseidon looked me up and down, like he was trying to predict just how much I was really worth to Olympus. He wore his poker face, that unreadable expression you so typically got from the sea.

"Train well and become a hero, Andy. Show me that I was right to let you live."

Then the god of the sea became a fine mist, disappearing with the next gust of wind that blew into the throne room.

I breathed a sigh of relief now that I was alone in the throne room. With the exception of Hestia, that is, but I seriously doubted she wanted anything to do with me right now after she had become one with the flame to escape me.

"Great," I muttered to myself, realizing that I was still on Olympus and had no idea where the elevator doors leading down to the Empire State Building were.

After many wrong turns and many glares from very unhelpful nymphs and satyrs, I eventually found the elevator doors and pressed the button the lobby, watching as the number started from six hundred and began to rapidly count down. To my disgust, some horrible whiny song was being played from the overhead speakers.

Another note to self: ask Apollo to do something about the elevator music.

Once I got back to the mortal world, I got a lot of weird looks from the tourists. They were probably wondering why a fourteen-year-old came out of an elevator by herself wearing a white chiton to the Empire State Building. To which I would reply, it's the average day in the life of a demigod.

Or am I a demititan?

Nah, demigod sounds better.

So what if my father was the King of the Titans? Calling myself a demigod was like another big middle finger I could give him, so hell yeah, I'm a demigod.

As I walked out onto the street, I debated whether I wanted to go directly back to camp or do some stuff I had to take care of first. Camp could wait, I decided, ducking into a corner thrift shop, buying myself a new shirt and some jeans while shoving the chiton into my bag. While I was in the dressing room, I pulled out all the flowers Kronos had embellished in my hair. He had placed freaking poppies and flowers that would bear pomegranates if they'd been allowed to live. Because what better way to piss off a room of temperamental immortals than put the flowers that the majority of them despised into the hair of his daughter.

Now that I could pass off for a normal New Yorker, I had my bag out and was holding onto it, my bracelet charms tapping my skin with every step I took. Salina had somehow made the two daggers I grabbed during the Capture the Flag game a part of my ever-growing arsenal, as I recognized two new charms had been added to my bracelet.

I walked into an alleyway, where I shouldn't get too much attention, and opened myself up to all my senses. It was like meditating, in a sense, but instead it let me target on individuals rather than my own thoughts.

Once I found who I was looking for, I hopped into a taxi and gave the driver the directions. A few minutes later, we stopped near Grand Central Station, which was next to the Sweet on America shop. I handed the driver a fifty dollar bill and told him to keep the change, making him a very happy man.

From out here, I could see Sally talking animatedly with Percy, who had pulled up a stool next to the countertop and was flipping through a huge book. If I had to guess, that book was had something to do with marine life or superheroes.

I walked into the candy shop, the bell tingling softly as the door opened. Sally looked up from her son and gave me a smile, letting me know that she recognized me. Percy was completely oblivious to my presence, completely enamored by what he was looking at. By the way, I was right; in his hands was a book titled _The Encyclopedia of Fish._ Huh, interesting title.

"Hello, Sally," I said sweetly, giving her a bright smile.

"Hello…goodness me, I don't remember your name," Sally said, blushing in embarrassment.

"Oops, that's my fault. My name is Andy."

"Isn't that a boy's name?" Percy blurted out, causing for Sally to blush even more.

"That wasn't very nice, Percy. Please apologize to Andy."

"Don't worry about it," I told her, waving off her concern. "My real name is Andromeda, but it's long and people like to tease me, so I call myself Andy for short."

Percy's eyes lit up. "That happens to me too! My name's Perseus, but I go by Percy for short."

"That's a very cool name," I told him, smiling at Sally once I saw the charm I had given her hanging from a silver chain around Percy's neck. She mouthed a silent thank you, which I brushed off, saying there was no way I would let someone stay in an abusive relationship if I could help. "What are you reading?"

"A book about fish! That's a…a," Percy stared at the words under the picture, squinting at them as if it would help him read it better.

"That's a lionfish," I supplied, recognizing the picture. I tried to read the captions, and to my surprise, the words stayed still. Thank the gods, I thought. I don't have dyslexia.

"Yeah! They're poisonous though, so that's bad."

I spent another hour in the shop, talking with a very excited Percy about his fish book, and he told me about the new apartments that his mom was looking at for the two of them. Sally had to go help some kids and their parents that came in to buy candy, but I kept Percy entertained, which I knew would help relieve some of Sally's stress.

Finally, it was closing time and Sally sighed, rubbing her eyes in exhaustion. Percy had fallen asleep against the counter a while ago, but once I noticed he was out, I pulled out my sleeping bag that the Hermes cabin had provided me and let Percy rest on it instead of having him slumped over a glass counter.

"Do you need help cleaning up?" I asked Sally, returning the stool I was sitting on to its proper place.

"Oh, you don't have to do that," Sally protested as she got some paper towels and window cleaner. "You've helped me enough by keeping Percy distracted. I love him, but sometimes having a hyperactive seven-year-old is extremely tiring."

"You're telling me," I laughed, and I told her about some of the kids at camp who were six and seven. Those children could run their mouths off for hours and run at least twenty miles without stopping, easy.

As we finished cleaning up the rest of the shop, someone walked into the candy store. "Sorry, we're closed," Sally said, her back turned to the door.

I, on the other hand, was facing the door and paled at what I was seeing. Standing there was Smelly Gabe holding a gun in his hand.

And the gun was pointed directly at Percy.


	6. Chapter 6

"Hello, Sally Jackson," Smelly Gabe slurred, but the cruelty in his voice was still there. "You thought you could leave little old me without any consequences, did you? That's not how it works!"

"Mommy?" Percy asked, his voice trembling in fear.

"Mommy's right here, Percy," Sally said, doing a good job at hiding the fear in her voice, but not on her face. "Don't hurt him, Gabriel. Do what you will with me, but leave my son out of this."

"Sally, I need you to trust me on this," I said, my voice no louder than a whisper. "When I say run, you run, understand? Don't worry about Percy. I'll protect him."

I summoned my sword, and even though the blade wouldn't harm Smelly Gabe, it was enough to have him scared of me, and that's all I needed. I walked out from behind the counter and stood directly across from Smelly Gabe, causing him to shift the barrel of the gun from Percy's head to my chest.

"Stay out of this, little girl, and I'll let you live," he promised, though I knew he was lying. There was no way he would leave any witnesses that could rat him out.

"Back away from Percy," I said coolly, not afraid of the gun. Salina had taught me in every form of weapon, including guns. That meant I knew exactly how much time I had to take him out between shots.

"One last chance," Smelly Gabe said, lowering the barrel of the gun back down to Percy's head. "Or the boy gets it." Percy flinched as Smelly Gabe pressed the cold metal of the gun directly against his temple, a fatal shot.

"Close your eyes, little one," I told Percy, backing up to where the water line was. "You won't want to see this. Sally, now!"

I turned around and slashed at the water line, much to Smelly Gabe's confusion. Sally listened to me and took off for the back room, barely missing being shot in the shoulder by Smelly Gabe. Percy was now freely crying, clapping his hands over his ears after hearing the sound of the gun shot.

I waved my hand towards Percy, and like magic, the water that had started to flood the room made a protective dome over him. Now that I was positive that Percy was safe, I lifted my hands on either side of me, the water raising up like a shield.

"W-What are you?" Smelly Gabe shouted, firing off two more shots at me, but my water shield stopped the bullets dead in their tracks.

"Your worst nightmare," I answered, my voice sounding like the earth was rumbling beneath me.

I pushed my hands forward, and the water instantly wrapped around Smelly Gabe like a cocoon for a very, _very_ ugly butterfly. I forced the water to rip the gun out of Smelly Gabe's hand, and I kicked it away from him and to the corner of the store, far out of his reach.

"Percy," I said, "please close your eyes and cover your ears. I don't want you to see this."

I checked that he had done what I asked and saw Percy curled up into a tight ball, his hands clapped tightly over his ears while his head was buried in his chest.

Then, I squeezed the water by constricting my hands, causing for Smelly Gabe's eyes to bulge out of his head as if he were one of those squishy toys. As he began to scream, I forced the water down his throat, making him thrash and scream even more, his face quickly going from red to purple. With one final wave of my hands, I encased him completely in a sphere of water, waiting until he no longer moved.

After making sure he was dead, I dropped Smelly Gabe's body to the floor, every muscle in my body aching from over exertion. The protective dome around Percy collapsed, soaking him completely.

Percy jolted up after being soaked, and ran over to me, pressing his face into my leg. "Is he dead?" he asked me, looking up at me with those big sea green eyes of him.

"Yes," I said solemnly. "And he's never going to hurt you again."

Although I was already exhausted from controlling the water for so long, I allowed for a flame to form in my hands, and I dried the floor and Smelly Gabe's body. I didn't want the Jackson's to be blamed for his death, and seeing that there were no security cameras anywhere inside or outside the candy shop, I doubted anyone would learn the truth.

I kicked the gun next to Smelly Gabe's hand and picked up Percy, carrying him like a toddler as I exited the candy shop from the back entrance. There I found Sally, who was on her knees in prayer, tear streaks on her face. Laying next to her was her cell phone, and since the cops had yet to arrive, I figured the battery had died and she didn't have her charger with her.

"Mommy!" Percy exclaimed, launching himself at Sally with such force I was surprised he didn't crack her ribs.

"Oh, Percy!" she said happily, peppering his face with kisses. "My beautiful baby boy. I love you so much."

While they hugged, I pulled some coins out of my bag and walked to the corner, where I knew there was a payphone. Technically, monsters only tracked cell phones, so payphones were fair game. I called 911, told them what happened, and waited with Sally and Percy until the cops and paramedics showed up. The paramedics were only there to take Smelly Gabe's body away and give the rest of us quick checkups to make sure we were okay.

"Well, from what we can see, it seems as if this man, Gabriel Ugliano, came in to try and kill you…but then he drowned when a water line burst?" the police officer said, looking extremely confused. "That guy clearly died of drowning, but how?"

"Your guess is as good as ours," I lied. "The second the first shot went off and the water line burst, the three of us ran out here. I guess he tried to chase after us, slipped on the water, bumped his head, and drowned. That's the only thing that makes logical sense."

I watched as the officer's eyes glazed over. "Yeah, that makes sense. Okay, we're done here boys!"

What was that? Please don't tell me I inherited charmspeak from Kronos too, or I will lose it.

Sally looked at me for an explanation, but I shrug my shoulders, not having a clue as to how to explain it. Percy had fallen asleep in her arms, the adrenaline rush being too much for his little body to handle.

"Thank you, again," Sally said gratefully, pulling me into a side hug while Percy still clung to her like a koala. "You saved our lives. I can't ever thank you enough."

"Don't worry about it, Sally. Oh, that reminds me…" I reached into my bag and pulled out a huge wad of cash. Salina was by far my favorite goddess in existence. She deserved so much more credit than she was given. "This is for you."

Sally paled at the bundle of money, shaking her head vehemently. "No, I can't accept that. Not if it's from you-know-who."

"It's not," I laughed. "This is from me. I want you to get a nice home and be able to send Percy to a nice school. You don't have to pay me back ever, Sally, this is a gift."

"What's the catch?"

"What?"

Sally sighed. "I've dealt with immortals enough to know that no gift comes without a price. What's the catch?"

"I just want to be able to hang out with Percy every once in a while. Not enough for monsters to find him, but enough so he knows I exist and that I'm watching over him. He may need me later, and I want him to know that I'll be there."

"That's it? Really?"

"Were you expecting something else?"

"If I'm being brutally honest, yes."

I laughed again. I could definitely see how Poseidon had fallen for her. She was a strong willed woman, something I admired greatly.

"Fine, add in some of your cookies, and I'll call it even."

Sally threw her head back and laughed, years melting off her complexion as she smiled. "I accept."

I handed her the cash and another one of my infamous charms. This one was a cloud instead of a star, but while the star charm hid Percy's scent, the cloud charm was like a direct message to me. I hadn't handed out that charm to anyone else yet, but I had a feeling Percy was someone who would need it.

Sally thanked me again, and I walked down the street before getting into another taxi that drove me back to camp. The driver was extremely confused when I told him to stop at the sign that read _Pick Your Own Strawberries,_ but after handing him a twenty dollar tip, he shut up and sped off, depositing me at the foot of Half-Blood Hill.

"Home sweet home," I muttered under my breath, beginning the climb towards Thalia's pine tree.

* * *

My return to Camp Half-Blood had not been a joyous occasion. I was met with glares and frightened looks, the campers treating me like I had just signed their death warrants. Wherever I went, I heard whispers being exchanged behind my back.

I ignored the stares and the whispers, walking directly back into the forest where I had torched about an acre of area. The nymphs, dryads, and naiads weren't too happy about my return, pelting me with acorns and tripping me with tree roots, but I guess I deserved that. I really hoped I hadn't hurt anyone when I became the Human Torch.

I knew I had found the right place when I found the huge hole in the middle of the river along with trees that were leaning at forty-five degree angles. It was a miracle they were still anchored to the ground.

"I'm sorry," I told the nature spirits, positive they were watching me even though no one else was around.

The best way to make it up to them was to restore the forest to how it had been, but I knew straightening the trees and rerouting the river would take years. Or maybe it didn't have to take that long.

It was risky, I know, but there was no better moment than the present to practice. Hopefully, I'd have a little more control now that I was by myself.

Closing my eyes, I pictured the forest as it had been before my explosion, the way that the trees stood tall and proud, the way the river flowed lazily as it rushed to meet the sea. I imagined the clock reversing, bringing back the nature spirits that had fled.

When I opened my eyes, my hands were encased with gold circles that seemed to pulse around my wrists. It reminded me like that movie, _Dr. Strange,_ that I had seen with Salina a few months ago. Oh, I do hope this Earth has Marvel movies, or that would be sad.

Right, back to the matter at hand.

I backed up and pushed my hands outward until the entire affected area was encased in a golden glow, as if King Midas had thrown a party and ran around touching everything. Once I was sure everything was covered, I pointed my left hand at the ground, centering me and grounding my powers from going out of hand. With my right hand, I made counterclockwise circles and watched in amazement as everything slowly fixed itself.

The dent in the river disappeared. The burned bushes were back and no longer covered in black scorch marks. The trees were no longer in danger of falling over with a strong gust of wind.

I dropped my hands to my sides after the river had fully reverted back to normal and dropped to my knees, my breaths coming in rattled spurts. Of all my powers that had manifested, this chronokinesis stuff was by far the most tiring. It made fighting three incredibly pissed of Furies seem like a piece of cake in comparison.

I crawled to the river and dunk my head into the water, feeling some of my strength return to my limbs. Out of curiosity, I tried to breathe underwater, wanting to see just how much control I had over the domains of the eldest Olympians. And sure enough, I was breathing in the water just as easily as I could breathe air.

"Cool," I said, my voice much deeper under the water.

I stood up and started ringing out my soaked hair. Okay, so while I could breathe underwater, I'd still get wet. That was more than fair, in all honesty. That left me wondering how I could withstand the pressure in the water, but I chose not to discover that right now as I'd probably be forced to do that when I trained with Poseidon.

Athena had explained my new training regimen that would become my life for the foreseeable future. I was on a rotating schedule with the gods, spending a week at a time under the supervision of one god. As Athena had been the first to advocate for keeping me alive, she took the first week of my training and then took the liberty of assigning slots for the rest of the gods, even those who had wanted to kill me.

The only one Athena hadn't been sure of assigning a slot was Hestia, but I guess the goddess told Athena to add her onto the list, though I wasn't a hundred percent sure why. I mean, I love Hestia and all, but she wouldn't be able to train me in fighting like the others. My best guess is that she wants to help my control my fire or to have a break from being used as the gods' personal punching bag. Either way, I'd be looking forward to that week with Lady Hestia.

I walked back into camp proper and took a seat on one of the picnic tables near the volleyball pit. I needed to write some stuff down for myself, or I was going to become a disorganized mess, something that could prove deadly.

Pulling out a black journal with white flowers adorning the cover and a blue pen from my bag, I began jotting down notes for myself as well as the information that had changed in my time being here. I wrote down what had happened to Thalia and the new name of the pine tree, the fight between Smelly Gabe and me at the candy shop, and my new place amongst the demigods.

Once all the important stuff was down on paper, I placed my journal and pen back in my bag and took out _The Sea of Monsters._ The reason the camp had been so determined to find the Golden Fleece wasn't so much because of the magical borders as much as the fact that Thalia's pine tree was the last physical reminder of the daughter of Zeus.

Thalia isn't a pine tree in this timeline, though, so I'm not sure exactly how this will play out. I skimmed a few of the chapters, only stopping to read the pages where the ink shimmered and replaced itself with new information. Apparently, the same events would take place, the only difference being that the tree wouldn't purge a new demigod, leaving me wondering what was going to happen.

Because unless Thalia joined the Hunters, she was still aging, and that meant the Great Prophecy would come into fruition in four years, when Annabeth and Percy were eleven. That couldn't be allowed to happen, because the disasters caused by her would be catastrophic.

Percy had to be the child of the prophecy, there was no other way around it.

"Oh, no," I groaned before slumping forward onto the picnic table.

Like the Oracle, sometimes different beings liked to hijack my mind and show me things. Usually, it was the Fates, and by now I had learned to recognize their presence when they were in my head, feeling like a deep seated itch that you couldn't scratch. But whatever was currently in my head wasn't the Fates, it felt older, more sinister.

I was still at Camp Half-Blood, but I was now dressed in my full body armor, my sword in one hand while a dagger was in the other. All around me was fire, consuming cabins whole as people screamed and ran. Monsters passed through the barrier as easily as a demigod could, terrorizing the few demigods who were still alive.

Off to my left, I saw someone standing over Annabeth's dead body, yanking their spear from her chest. She wasn't wearing any armor, but it was obvious that she didn't need it. I watched as an archer tried to shoot her from behind, but she caught the arrow millimeters from her back, and with inhumane like speed and strength, she threw the arrow back at the archer, who was clutching his throat as his own arrow pierced his Adam's apple.

I wouldn't have been able to identify the girl as she had a blood red cloak hiding her face, but when she noticed me, she peeled back the hood, revealing someone I would've never in a million years thought could be capable of such mass destruction.

Her gold eyes pulsed with power, her black hair whipped around her face even though no wind was blowing. I looked down and saw her hands stained red with the blood of innocents as she kicked Annabeth, causing for the dead daughter of Athena to roll down the hillside.

"T-Thalia?" I gasped, watching as an evil smirk formed on her lips.

"Olympus has fallen!" she cackled, stabbing her spear into the ground and raising her hands to the sky. "Those treacherous gods shall be punished for all eternity for their treason! Western Civilization has died!"

"Kronos has possessed you," I pleaded, taking a step forward, cringing when I felt my boot break through something. I looked down and saw I had accidently stepped into a young boy's ribcage. "You wouldn't turn your back on the gods."

"You know nothing about me! I want Zeus to die for what he did to my family!"

Thalia then raised her hood again, wiping the blood off her hands with the ends of her cloak. She picked up her spear and returned it to its concealed form of a mace canister. "You could've joined us," she said levelly, her eyes brighter than polished drachmas under the shadow of her hood. "He would never hurt his daughter. Surrender now, and you'll live the rest of your life happily in the new world."

"What happened to you?" I asked, tightening the grip on my weapons.

"A half-blood of the eldest gods shall reach sixteen against all odds," Thalia began, her voice starting to sound more like a growl than that of a person. "And see the world in endless sleep. The hero's soul, cursed blade shall reap. A single choice shall end his days. Olympus to preserve or raze. And guess what? It's my sixteenth birthday!"

Thalia then grabbed ahold of my wrist in a vice-like grip and dragged me down to the huge flaming brazier in the middle of the now destroyed cabins. I almost threw up at what I saw. In the burning flames of the brazier, I saw Percy Jackson, a knife shoved hilt deep into his arms and legs, pinning him to the marble.

How is that possible? I asked myself, cringing at the knives. Assuming he still had the Mark of Achilles, there's no way those knives should be hurting him.

The knives themselves weren't the gruesome part. No, the thing that made me sick to my stomach was the fact that someone had taken it upon themselves to cut Percy open like they were performing an autopsy on him, revealing all his internal organs. Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth. His sea green eyes were still wide open, gazing lifelessly at the bright red and orange sky.

"Hero's soul cursed blade shall reap, indeed," Thalia said with a smirk, unsheathing the sword Backbiter, which was spattered in dried blood.

I then sat up, my breathing heavy as I rubbed my eyes, looking around the camp to make sure it wasn't aflame. It wasn't, obviously, but still, it was surreal to me watching as campers made their way back to their cabins like doomsday wasn't just around the corner. If I was right, the majority of these kids don't even know about the Great Prophecy or what it entailed, because if they did, training would quickly become the main priority.

No, I'm sorry, but Thalia Grace could not become the child of the prophecy, not if it meant Kronos would win.

I sighed, rubbing my temples to stave off the forming headache. Zeus is going to kill me when I tell him what I saw. Then, he'll kill Thalia.

Off in the distance, I saw a twenty foot flame leap into the sky from the amphitheater before it died just as quickly, signaling that we had ten minutes to be back into our cabins for curfew, or else the harpies would eat us. Lovely guardians, those harpies.

Packing up my stuff, I walked back to the Hermes cabin, deciding to keep to myself before anyone could start calling me a witch, monster, et cetera. When I sat back down on the little patch of floor that was my bed, I could sense that everyone's eyes were on me, like they were calculating whether they should throw me out and leave me at the mercy of the harpies for the night. Some of the kids that had slept around me the night before went so far as to visibly scoot away from me.

Whatever, I told myself, summoning my sleeping bag from my bag. They're afraid of me, and with good reason. If I were in their shoes, I' be afraid of me too.

"No wonder she's unclaimed," I heard one of the older boys whisper to his friend. "She's such a freak that not even her mommy, or is it her daddy, will claim her."

"Scram," I heard Luke tell the other boy, shoving him aside. "You don't know her, therefore, you have no right to judge. Leave her alone."

"Why stick up for her, Luke? Stay with us. At least you know we won't burn you into ash."

I heard Luke snarl and within seconds, I knew the two were fighting. Noah, who had been reading peacefully on his bunk, sighed and walked over to the brawling pair, pulling the boys apart with the help of Connor and Travis Stoll.

"Enough," Noah said tiredly, pinching the bridge of his nose in annoyance. "Both of you go to bed, _now._ I'll deal with your punishment in the morning. Light's out."

I laid down in my now slightly bigger space, pulling up my sleeping bag up to my neck for some warmth. Funny, the girl who could summon fire was cold. A few seconds later, I saw Luke set his own sleeping bag next to mine, trading his spot by the door with some girl to stay by me.

"I'm sorry for what happened earlier," he said softly, his blue eyes shining under the moonlight that flooded the room. "I shouldn't have reacted like that after everything you did for me and my girls. All you've done is help us, and when you needed us, we left. Can you ever forgive me for what I did?"

"Of course," I replied, meeting Luke's gaze. "You were scared, trust me, I was too. It's only natural you leave for your own safety. If I was a camper, I would've run away from myself as fast as my feet could take me. I forgive you."

Luke blinked twice, like he was surprised I had been so willing to forgive him. By the way he looked, I guess he thought I was going to hold a grudge against him for the rest of eternity, but that's not my style. There's no point in holding onto unreasonable anger, especially something that I could easily justify in my own mind.

He gave me a weak smile before turning away from me, his breathing quickly evening out. Many demigods seemed to share this trait, but not me. It seemed like I was one of the few demigods in the world that suffered from insomnia.

I stared at the ceiling, alone with my thoughts as I tried to come up with possible solutions for my prophecy problem.

* * *

I woke up the next morning dangling by my ankles from a tree branch.

At first I thought I was still dreaming, but when I felt my body bump into the tree trunk, I knew someone had taken me from the Hermes cabin and decided that this was a funny prank. Turning my head so I could look around, I found Holly and that other boy from the Hermes cabin, Kyle, I think, laughing obnoxiously loud for the time that it was.

Hades, the sun hadn't even risen over the horizon yet. It was way too early for this kind of prank, but then again, I never asked or wanted to be a participant of dangling from at least thirty feet above the ground. Just what kind of trees grow in this forest?

"Ha, ha," I told them, drawing their attention towards me. "Can you please let me down?"

"And why would we do that, _witch?"_ Holly sneered, grabbing the rope holding me up and swinging it, causing me to slam into the trunk so hard the wind was knocked out of me.

"You embarrassed us during capture the flag," Kyle continued, doing one worse than Holly – he actually released some slack in the rope, causing me to drop a couple feet, more than I felt comfortable with. "You're the girl with freaky powers, _Andy._ You're a monster, probably a daughter of Circe or Medea. Not even the goddess Hecate would be proud enough to claim someone like you!"

"Am I supposed to be hurt?" I asked in a bored tone. "Like, do you expect me to cry or something?"

Holly and Kyle both looked at each other in shock, but before they could recover, I bent my body forward and grabbed hold of the rope with both hands. Not gonna lie, bending over like that really hurt, but I managed to reach a nearby branch for me to sit on so that I could untie my ankles. Afterwards, I used the rope to climb down the tree, jumping down once I was close enough to the ground.

"Thanks for the early morning workout," I said sarcastically, even saluting them to piss them off even more. "But next time save yourselves the work and just challenge me to a duel instead."

While the duo stared at me, steam practically pouring from their ears, I made my way back, choosing to hide out in the stables rather than go back to the cabins. Since the conch horn signaling for us to wake up hasn't sounded yet, if a harpy saw me, she would eat me. The harpies tend to leave the pegasi alone, so I figure that's as good a place as any to wait out the harpies.

The majority of the pegasi were still sleeping with the exception of two in the front stable, who were eating the hay from the floor. I found myself searching for Blackjack before remembering that he wasn't in camp until after the events from _The Sea of Monsters,_ because Percy had freed him from Luke on the _Princess Andromeda._

Ugh, I still hate the fact that my name was plastered onto that demon-infested ship. Bad enough they had a screaming masthead with my namesake's face on it, but they had to taint her memory by branding an unholy ship with her name.

Sorry, I'm still slightly bitter over the fact that the _Princess Andromeda_ was the place that Charles Beckendorf died. He and Silena deserved better. At least they're happy in Elysium.

Oh, right, I'm supposed to change their deaths.

According to my list, they're both supposed to stay alive, and honestly, I wasn't too upset over the names that replaced their own. From what I've seen and read, the two destined to take the fate of Beckendorf and Silena were first rate assholes, so personally, I don't think I'd lose that much sleep over their deaths.

I ended that train of thought right then and there before pulling out another notebook and a pen, figuring that I could try my hand at sketching for a little bit to pass the time. My pen scratched at the page, only stopping when I finally heard the familiar sound of the conch shell sound echoing across the entire enchanted valley.

The pegasi awakened at the noise, and like clockwork, they headed for their feeding troughs, which magically filled with fresh hay and apples. The apples were gone within seconds, taken by the younger pegasi, but there was still plenty of hay.

I walked out of the stables and towards the dining pavilion, where everyone would be heading, but halfway there, I stopped. Someone was watching me from a distance, probably thinking I couldn't sense them.

Looking around me, I found a pair of stormy gray and electric blue eyes focused on me from the statue of Apollo that was in the commons area. But there was someone else, too. Although the Big House porch was too far away from the dining pavilion for me to be certain, I'm pretty sure Chiron was watching me from afar.

Speaking of which, I needed to talk to him about my parentage. That would also mean we're…great, I never knew what it's like to have an immortal centaur as a sibling, guess it's time to find out.

Oh, the joys of being me.


	7. Chapter 7

Needless to say, my conversation with Chiron was by far the most awkward thing I've ever experienced in my entire life with the exception of human growth and development in ninth grade. My biology teacher, fresh out of college, had refused to meet any of our eyes and was bright red the entire time he read off of his PowerPoint presentation. Not to mention the immature boys who would ask the most indecent things mortifying our teacher and the more sensitive girls.

Okay, I described that in way too much detail, sorry.

Anyhow, Chiron was surprised to say the least once I revealed my parentage to him. I had come up to him after breakfast, and while he had been finishing the last of his coffee, I kinda just blurted out that my father was Kronos and he choked. One of the satyrs that had been nearby quickly ran and returned with a napkin for Chiron, eying the centaur as if he was deciding whether he needed to pat Chiron's back or not.

"My office," Chiron had spluttered out, wiping his mouth of the coffee that had dribbled out. "Now."

After a very heated fifteen minute conversation about how I was to keep my father's identity under lock and key, Chiron sighed and put his head in his hands. He lifted his head and gazed past me, his eyes fixated on a single book that was shelved on the bookcase by the door. He wheeled himself over, pulled out the large leather-bound book, and set it down on his lap.

"Come, child," Chiron had beckoned, flipping through the pages until he stopped on what he was looking for. "If you are indeed telling the truth, I figure it's best you know everything about our father."

"I've read everything on him I could find," I had told Chiron, a tingling in the back of my mind telling me to be careful of how much I revealed. I had no doubt in my mind that it was Salina, reminding me that my arrival into this world was to be my best guarded secret, something I'd take to my grave. "Every article, book, and webpage."

Chiron raised his eyebrows at me, most likely surprised as to how in depth my research was. "May I ask why you've researched the Titan King so extensively, Andy?"

"I've researched every entity extensively," I had answered calmly. And I hadn't been lying. Once I agreed to join the crazy worlds that Rick Riordan had wrote about, I forced myself to commit every myth, every story about all Greek, Roman, Norse, and Egyptian mythologies to memory. My biggest concerns were clearly the Greek and Roman myths, but in the off chance I ran into Magnus, Samirah, Alex, Blitzen, Hearthstone, Sadie, or Carter, I wanted to be prepared.

"What do you mean _every_ entity?"

"I mean that quite literally, Chiron," I said nonchalantly, standing beside him to read the page he had opened to. I read the first few lines and said, "Yes, I've already read this before. Don't remember where, but I know this information already."

"I'm impressed," Chiron had said, closing the book and sliding it back into place. "Maybe I should put you in charge of mythology classes in the foreseeable future."

I shrugged, readjusting my bag's strap over my shoulder. "I'd love to, but unfortunately I already have other commitments. The Olympians have chosen to oversee my training personally, wanting me to be a spy for them."

"That is most unusual. Lord Zeus is known for his distrust and dislike of demigods, especially powerful ones such as yourself. Speaking of which, you really shouldn't be alive, not after the meeting Mr. D took you to."

"Thanks for those kind words, Chiron," I replied sarcastically, shaking my head at his poor choice in wording. "I survived by pledging my undying fidelity to the Olympians, swearing an oath on the River Styx that I'd never turn against Olympus."

Chiron had merely nodded, pensively stroking his beard. "I see. Well, in any case, I'm glad that you are still with us. Will you come back after your training?"

"I sure hope so," I had said, giving my half-brother a weak smile. "I know of the war that will be upon us in a few short years, and we will need as much help as we can get. My suggestion is to add more training time for everyone, and for those who especially want to fight, offer more specialized classes."

"That's not a bad idea, Andy, but I'm afraid we just don't have the resources to do such a thing. The campers that teach our classes are already stretched thin as it is, and I can only do so many things by myself."

"And the gods wonder why their children resent them," I muttered quietly under my breath, shaking my head in shame. "I'll try to stop by to help train others whenever I can," I told Chiron, fiddling with my bag's strap. "We need good teachers for the young ones. I'll see what I can do from my end."

After that, I had left the Big House and joined up with the rest of the Hermes cabin during our archery lesson. When I reached the archery range, I watched as half my cabin mates turned to look at me, ignoring Noah's instructions. He hadn't even bat an eye when I arrived, probably accepting the fact that I had a tendency to be late to our classes.

Noah then handed out the bows and quivers to the younger kids while the older ones all fought to get into the little shed where the equipment was held. An Apollo camper – Harry, I think – sat under an oak tree by the shed, wrapping and unwrapping his wrist with some ace bandages that he carried in his medical bag.

I stood next to Harry, waiting for the frenzy of kids trying to arm themselves to die down. It's not like I needed one of the bows in the shed anyways – I already had a bow curtesy of Salina – but I wasn't going to reveal all my secrets to the campers. Salina, although already one of the most minor goddesses in the entire mythological world, did her best to stay elusive from those who would exploit her powers, and that included other gods and demigods.

Harry glanced up at me briefly, shrugged his shoulders, and went back to wrapping and unwrapping his wrist. I liked this kid, I decided, entering the shed now that the rest of the Hermes cabin was making their way to their spots on the range.

I grimaced at the sight of the inside of the shed as I stepped over snapped arrows that had fallen out of knocked over quivers. The inside of the shed was dark and reeked of mildew, reminding me of the time I'd fallen into a sewer pipe after trying to run away from Holly.

The racks that were meant to hold the bows were rotting away and way too small to hold the amount of bows that would be needed to arm the entire Apollo cabin plus the handful of kids that preferred archery over melee combat.

The pegs that held up quivers of arrows were dark red with rust, and the quivers themselves were in awful shape. They were riddled with holes large enough for arrows to fall out of, and the zippers were completely busted.

As for the arrows, those were the only things in decent shape. Sure, they weren't as sharp as they could've been, but at least the fletchings, nocks, and shafts were in perfect condition, making them useful in combat.

I picked up one of the last bows from off the floor, frowning at the fraying string and the crack in the upper limb. If someone shot with this bow enough times, the bow would shatter from the amount of force and hurt themselves. I set that bow down in the corner of the shed with a few other bows in desperate need of repair before picking up another one that wasn't in danger of exploding.

I then grabbed a quiver of arrows, slung it over my shoulder, and walked back out onto the range, breathing in the scent of strawberries that blew in the breeze. No one paid me any attention as I took stand at the target farthest away from the shed and began to shoot, making it within the eight, nine, and ten point range every single time when the target was set up at fifteen yards.

Noah would periodically blow the whistle, signaling us to move our targets farther back to keep training. It wasn't until my target was fifty yards away that I was really struggling, but after looking around, that seemed to be the case for the most of us except for Giana, whose weapon of choice was a bow. She managed to get within the inner two rings up until a hundred and ten yards, much better than the rest of us could do.

The rest of the day was pretty relaxed as we continued going to our classes. I once again fell asleep during mythology class, but at this point, I didn't care all that much about what the others thought of my actions. There was nothing more that Nicole, a daughter of Athena, could teach me about the gods that I didn't already know.

Of course, Nicole and Annabeth both chewed me out for falling asleep, but after subjecting myself to an exam-like amount of questions and answering them correctly, they left me alone. I then skipped Ancient Greek, preferring to learn language by myself rather than be forced to listen to other kids repeat the same questions repeatedly.

Let's just say I had a rotten experience in Latin class in high school and I vowed to never learn another language in a classroom setting ever again. I took my textbook and worksheets and went down to the beach to work, enjoying the sound of the surf as waves broke against the sand while I diligently did my assignments.

After finishing my work up through the day I was supposed to leave for Olympus, I walked into the sea, shivering slightly at the temperature difference between the air and the water. Before now, I'd never seen the ocean before. Growing up in Ohio, the only natural bodies of water I saw were rivers and lakes. And even then, Mrs. Stetson rarely brought us to Attwood Lake, saying that it would be a liability issue to bring twenty girls down to a lake with only one supervisor and no lifeguard.

I could count on one hand the number of times we visited Attwood Lake, but they were all great times, always ending with us throwing a campfire and eating s'mores before getting back into the van and passing out instantly. Other than that, Mrs. Stetson only took us to the community pool, which happened to be located at my high school.

So to say that I loved the ocean was an understatement. I had a little cutout of a beach from Florida, where the water was completely see through and the sand was white and soft, and had it tacked up to my wall, wanting to visit the ocean at least once before I left Mrs. Stetson's care. I'd never fulfilled that dream until now, and as I felt the waves rush past my legs, I knew it was just as magical as I thought it had been.

"I thought you'd enjoy this," I heard someone say, causing me to whirl around, my sword already in my hand. Once I realized that it was Salina, I sheathed my sword and blushed, rubbing the back of my neck sheepishly.

"Hello," I said, feeling my face burn. "Sorry about the whole sword thing."

Salina smiled and waved her hand, brushing my actions aside. "It's your instincts and training kicking in, my child. I'm glad to know my training has paid off."

"More than you'd know," I said, shooting the goddess a smile as I bent down and touched the crest of an incoming wave. I laughed silently as the white crest burst into bubbles in my hand, making me seem like a young child.

"The ocean's beautiful," Salina said, staring wistfully up at the clear blue sky. "Many wishes are made here, allowing me some time to talk to you."

I straightened up and dried my hand with my pants, looking over at Salina, who was unbothered by the fact that the bottom of her dress was now completely soaked with salt water. Her blonde hair was currently down, flowing gently with the sea breeze. She wore a crown of blue perennials, flowers that were tolerant to salt water, allowing her to blend in as a naiad or Nereid instead of a goddess.

"What's going on?" I asked, turning my gaze back out onto the horizon, watching as a cruise ship passed by far in the distance.

"I'm sure you've had the vision we sent Deimos to give you," Salina said calmly, gauging my reaction to this information, "and we can't allow Thalia to become the prophecy child. That burden must pass onto Percy Jackson for the future to exist."

"I've figured that much out," I sighed, pinching the bridge of my nose. "But what can I do? It's not like I can force Thalia to join the Hunters, and there's no way I'm going to kill her. The only thing I can think of doing is somehow freezing Thalia in time until Percy comes of age, but if I do that, Zeus will have my head, not to mention everyone else."

"Well, you're on the right track – Thalia must stop aging. That's why I've come with a Fates-approved plan."

I raised my eyebrows at Salina, turning to look at her once more. "This must be either really risky or controversial then."

"A little bit of both," Salina replied, a troublemaker smile plastered onto her face. "We're going to turn Thalia into a tree."

I stared at Salina like she had just grown a second head, or like she told me to go drink water from the camp toilets. But her smile had completely disappeared, and by the way the petals of her perennials were beginning to wilt, I knew Salina was dead serious in this plan. I mean, if the Fates gave their seal of approval and everything, it had to be carried out.

"How?" I asked, starting to fiddle with my bracelet.

"In two days' time, Hermes will stop by and offer Luke his Golden Apples quest. As per the custom at camp, he will be allowed two companions," Salina began, touching her crown, allowing for the flowers to bloom once more. "And Thalia will definitely be one of his companions. The other could possibly be Annabeth, but I'm not certain he would take her out into danger again because of her age."

"Then who's supposed to be his second companion? It can't be me. Athena owns me all week."

"It won't matter," Salina said with a wave of her hand. "All that matters is that Thalia ends up on this quest. She and Luke will head to Mount Tam in San Francisco, a mere six hours away from Los Angeles, where Hades is. He will allow the worst monsters out of Tartarus to attack her."

"You're really going to do that? I saved her in the Cyclopes lair to prevent this from happening," I said vehemently, unbelieving of what I was hearing. "She's going to have to die no matter what, isn't she? Being a tree was fated for her in this time and the last, right?"

"I'm afraid so, my child," Salina said solemnly, gazing downward towards the waves. "The Fates have ordained it so."

"Well, what am I going to do with Luke? Thalia's death is the reason he turned to _him_ ," I spat, the mere thought of my father making me want to jump into Tartarus myself and burn his remains. "I promised Hermes that Luke wasn't going to betray us."

Salina was quiet for a few moments, as if the thought hadn't occurred to her. I'm pretty sure she wasn't really all that concerned about Luke and more concerned about me and my reaction to this plan. She then cocked her head to the side, as if someone was speaking into her ear via the wind.

"That was Clotho," Salina said, shaking her head to clear the Fate's voice from her mind. "She hears and understands your concerns, Andy, and that's why the Fates have decided Luke will join Thalia."

"How's that supposed to work?" I exclaimed, throwing my hands in the air in exasperation. "Last I checked, lightning can only turn one person into a tree."

Once again, Salina cocked her head to the side, listening to one of the three Fates. Seconds later, the goddess of wishes clapped her hands twice and a glass vial full of purple liquid appeared. It reminded me scarily of the Elder Python venom I had been forced to learn about in my Sorcery 101 textbook Salina had given me back home. But this liquid wasn't steaming, instead there were little particles within the vial that seemed to be stuck in some kind of convection current, rising and falling in a constant cyclical motion.

"This is how you'll keep the duo together," Salina informed me, walking over and closing my hand around the vial. "This potion is potent enough that the both of them can be in the same tree, thus allowing their souls to converse with each other until they are saved."

"You know what this means, right?" I said, pocketing the vial in my bag before returning it to charm form, not wanting the contents to be soaked with sea water. "We'll need the Golden Fleece if we ever want them back."

"I know, but that is an issue for a different day." Salina's form then began to flicker, and she scowled up at the sky, specifically at the one cloud that ruined the perfectly clear sky. "I must go before my presence is discovered. Train well, my daughter, and we will see each other soon."

Salina disappeared in a whirlwind of dandelions, leaving the flowers to fall slowly into the ocean. I picked one up, the head of the flower already drooping from the water and mostly bare from the seeds being washed away. I blew at the remaining seeds, watching as they floated towards the beach with the incoming breeze.

Now I could only pray that Salina would help my wish come true.

* * *

The next two days were a blur to me until it was finally Sunday afternoon, the day that Luke was going to be issued his quest. I was a complete nervous wreck, but thankfully, we didn't have schedules on Sunday, allowing for us to have a much needed break in the week. This allowed me to be by myself at a picnic table, sketching in an attempt to calm my nerves as the sun continued moving across the horizon.

It was only a matter of time until Hermes arrived, and I had to be ready for when it happened. Even though I knew I wouldn't be going on this quest, I dressed sensibly in the off chance Hermes sent me to trail them. I really hoped he wouldn't do that, because Athena would be royally ticked off if I blew off my first week of training with her.

After looking back down at my paper and seeing that my sketch appeared as if a chicken had ran through ink and then across my paper, I set my pen and notebook back into my bag, choosing to take a walk to clear my head.

I made it as far as the forges before I heard – and felt – the sonic boom that could only be created by the fastest god: Hermes. Apparently flashing in had been too much of a chore for him, because the sonic boom was so volatile that I found myself getting launched against one of the walls of the forge, my back exploding in pain.

I crumpled to the floor, wincing as I tried to sit up. Not wanting to cause any permanent damage to myself, I allowed myself to lay there until it no longer hurt to move, only using gentle movements to get myself sitting against the wall.

Reaching into my bag, I pulled out some of my ambrosia and nibbled half-heartedly at a little bit of the square, just enough so that I could feel strength surging back into my limbs. Thankfully for me, moments later James came running out of the forge, his wielder's mask still on and his hands still wearing huge black rubber gloves.

"Andy?" James questioned, lifting his mask so that he could look at me. "What happened?"

"Hermes," I said through a wince, clutching at my chest. Okay, maybe being thrown into a wall broke something more than my skin.

"You're hurt," James said calmly, taking off his mask and gloves before crouching down beside me. Suddenly, he touched the sides of my chest, leaving me inhaling sharply in pain. "Cracked ribs, maybe fractured."

"Great. That's wonderful." I sighed, eating the rest of the ambrosia, the taste of Mrs. Silva's cinnamon buns flooding my mouth. "Could you help me to the infirmary, please?"

James shook his head, shoving his gloves into some huge pockets that were in his oil-covered apron. "I can't; there are other campers in the forge. But, I can ask one of my siblings to take you. Give me a sec."

I waited for a few minutes, struggling to get to my feet the entire time. I eventually got up, feeling as if I was breathing in pure fire, but too stubborn to sit down again. James returned moments later with one of his sisters, Wendy Hu, and she wrapped an arm under my legs and another under my back, carrying me bridal style.

"Wrong place, wrong time?" Wendy asked as she walked me back to the infirmary, flipping her jet black hair over her shoulder and out of her face.

"Yup. Didn't expect Hermes to do that, you know?"

"Ugh, do you know how much work it is to replace all the windows he probably broke? I wish we could hold gods accountable for their actions, but alas, we can't."

Wendy was silent the rest of the time, setting me down on the porch of the infirmary before turning on her heel, probably walking back to the forges. The infirmary was an addition to the back of the Apollo cabin that attached via a hallway. It was perfectly rectangular and white washed with the exception of a red cross painted on the side facing north, marking it as an infirmary.

I pushed the doors to go in and walked up to the daughter of Apollo who had been left with infirmary duty. She was young, no older than seven or eight by my estimates, but her sky blue eyes shone with intelligence. Within seconds of walking into the infirmary, the young daughter of Apollo looked up, gave me a once over, and said, "You've hurt your ribs. Come, take a seat on an exam bed. I'll be right there."

Gripping onto the desk and the metal bar that ran across the entire perimeter of the infirmary, I made my way to an exam bed and gingerly sat down, my chest aching with every breath I took. The girl, who then introduced herself as Cleo, snapped on some blue gloves, closed a curtain around the bed, and asked me to lift up my shirt.

"Yup, you cracked two ribs," Cleo said after pressing her hands against the left side of my chest, which had blossomed with dark blue and purple splotches. "I'll wrap them and give you some nectar."

"How long will it be before they heal?"

"If you take it easy, about a week, maybe two."

I shook my head. "There's got to be a faster way. I've got major commitments to honor starting tomorrow that require me to be unharmed."

Cleo was pensive for a moment before glancing down at the nectar in her hand. She set the glass of nectar down and went rummaging through some cabinets, returning with an IV bag and its accompanying tube and needle.

"Healing works faster if we give your nectar intravenously," she said, reaching for a blue rubber band, the kind they wrap around your arm before you donate blood. "It's this or wait to heal naturally."

I offered her my arm, surprising her slightly. I knew many demigods hated needles as a result of different treatments for their ADHD that their mortal parent subjected them too, but I never had a problem with needles.

Cleo quickly inserted the IV after finding a vein and then went to work to hook up the nectar. She calibrated the release to however many milliliters it was an hour but still went ahead and wrapped my chest in a thick layer of bandages, saying this would help my ribs set properly.

Once I was taken care of, Cleo moved on to some boys that had come from training and had some cuts that needed stitches and a tetanus shot. For being so young, she was an expert, stitching up both boys and giving them their shots within fifteen minutes before chastising them to be more careful.

"Friends of yours?" I asked, turning to look at how much fluid was still in the IV.

"Sam and Eric," she answered, jotting something down on her clipboard before turning to a filing cabinet and tucking the paper away in a cream colored folder. "They're in most of my classes, but they fight with swords while I use a bow. But honestly, if I can avoid a fight, I do. I'd rather be here in the infirmary."

"It seems kinda lonely here."

She shrugged, taking a seat in a wheelie chair and making her way back to my bed. "Gives me time to think and write music. This place is usually much busier after Capture the Flag or cabin duels, but on Sunday, we don't get as many campers."

Seeing that I was the only one in the infirmary, Cleo and I held a light and amicable conversation about camp and what we wanted to do with our lives on the off chance that we returned to the mortal world and survived to adulthood.

Cleo told me that she'd like to be a doctor without borders, the kind that go to the roughest and poorest parts of the world to treat people that would never receive medical help otherwise. "It annoys me how many people die of treatable diseases over something as trivial as money," she ranted at one point, looking downright murderous.

Her rant was interrupted when a bright blue light shone through the windows of the infirmary. Cleo bent down underneath the desk and pulled out a bow before slinging a quiver over her shoulder. "I'm going to see what happened," she said, pulling out a single arrow and notching it onto the string. "Stay put."

About ten minutes passed before Cleo returned, her bow no longer loaded and her quiver completely closed. Clearly there hadn't been an attack, but she was visibly shaken up, her skin pallid and her breathing shallow.

"You okay?" I asked, motioning for her to take a seat next to me as I sat myself up and swung my legs over the side of my bed.

"There's been a quest ordained," Cleo said softly, still fingering the string of her bow. "Lord Hermes tasked Luke to steal an Apple of Immortality from the Garden of the Hesperides."

"And who are his companions?"

"Thalia and…" Cleo broke off, biting her lip so harshly I saw blood blossom from the cut. I reached over with my free hand and handed her a napkin, which she used to wipe the blood away from her mouth. "Luke chose me."

"I thought he would've picked Annabeth," I told her, patting her shoulder gently. "Did he tell you why he chose you for this?"

"Something about needing a healer," Cleo said dejectedly, finally setting her bow down onto the floor. "Don't get me wrong, I'm honored to go on a quest and all, but I hate the mortal world. My dad has a lot of contacts with a lot of bad people who have hurt me before, and I don't want to face that again. I'll only feel worse if we fail because of my dad."

"Wait, but isn't your dad Apollo?"

"Yeah, but Apollo fell in love with my dad, Jacob Russo, and somehow I exist. I try not to think too much into the logistics of it all."

"Duly noted." I wrapped an arm around the younger girl's shoulders, giving her a side hug with my free arm. "You'll do great, Cleo, I know you will."

After the conch horn sounded, signaling evening activity, Cleo unhooked me from my IV and fastened my bandages with a couple more clips. She told me to be careful for the next few hours but that I should feel significantly better by tomorrow.

I thanked her, and the two of us walked down to the amphitheater for tonight's sing along curtesy of the Apollo cabin. When I asked Cleo if she would sing, she shook her head so quickly I thought she was going to give herself whiplash.

"Gods no," she had said, completely mortified at the insinuation. "I sound like a whale receiving the Heimlich when I sing. I can play the lyre for my siblings, but I'll leave the singing to them, thank you very much."

I laughed at her vehemence, waving goodbye to her as I took a seat with the rest of my cabin, seating myself right next to Luke. He was staring so intensely at the fire that he was completely unaware of my arrival, his hands tightly clenching onto his knees. If it weren't for his pants, I could guarantee you he would've torn the skin off his knees.

While the Apollo cabin began singing "This Land is Minos' Land" and "I'm My Own Great-Great-Great-Grandpa", Thalia joined us, setting a gentle hand on Luke's shoulder. That simple touch had been enough to jolt him to alertness, flinching so hard I thought he was going to fall off the bench.

"Chiron said we could leave early tonight," Thalia said softly, reaching for Luke's hand. He finally looked up at her, a cold mask of indifference on his face. "We're going to need all the rest we can get before this quest."

"I know," Luke sighed, swatting away a bug from his face. "I'm still in shock, you know? He shows up after all these years only to send me on a quest that's already been done before? I mean, the recognition is nice, but there's no glory in repeating something that only Hercules succeeded at."

"A quest isn't about glory," I told Luke, causing him to jump once again. "This is Hermes giving you a chance."

"A chance to die? How fatherly of him."

"No, he's giving you a chance to hone your skills as a hero. You're strong and smart, Luke, use that to your advantage."

Thalia was glaring murderously at me, probably fighting back the urge to strike me down right where I sat. Right, she had a thing for Luke, and here I was trying to comfort him. It didn't help matters that technically speaking, I was Luke's age while Thalia was still two years younger than the both of us, and I knew from personal experience what it was like to have a crush on someone who had a friend their same age.

Before the both of them could leave, I wished them good luck, reminding them that if they needed anything last minute, I could help them out. Luke thanked me, but Thalia had already grabbed him by the wrist and was pulling him away, silently fuming.

The campfire continued on, the fire a bright red and easily twenty feet high. I watched in amusement as the younger campers squealed in joy as their marshmallows were engulfed in flames, charring the marshmallow black, but they still ate it anyways. Hey, in a camp where sugar is heavily regulated, you take what you can get.

Chiron appeared about fifteen minutes later, right as the Apollo cabin was finishing up their last song. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Cleo massaging her hands as she set the gold lyre down on the ground, talking to one of her siblings. I saw James and Wendy, too, both of them hunched over blueprints while they worked in the firelight.

Then, I caught glimpse of Annabeth, who was sitting glumly alongside one of her brothers underneath a flag with an owl on it. She was scowling at her marshmallow, which was so burned I'm surprised it hadn't fell off the stick yet. My best guess is that she's bummed that Luke didn't pick her for his quest, but honestly, I wouldn't have brought her along either.

While I knew all about the great warrior that Annabeth Chase would become, she had yet to reach that level of expertise. After all, she was only seven. It wasn't until she was twelve until she had almost full control of her dagger, and that was five years away, much too far to bring her out into the dangers of the mortal world again.

Once Chiron had gained everyone's attention by stamping his hoof, he declared that it was time for us to return to our cabins before the cleaning harpies got hungry. We all made our way out and towards our cabins, but for some reason, I couldn't help but feel as if someone was watching me.


	8. Chapter 8

The next morning, I woke up at the break of dawn to ensure that I would reach Olympus by eight in the morning. I had no doubt in my mind that if I was late Athena would turn this week into a complete nightmare for me, so after shoving my sleeping bag into my bag, I left my cabin and went towards the Big House to tell Chiron I was leaving.

As for the cleaning harpies, I wasn't too concerned about them at the moment. They were much harsher at night, but they typically didn't attack campers once the sun was up, especially since there were a couple of the older campers that preferred to train in the morning by themselves without the distraction of little kids.

Chiron wasn't surprised about my early morning visit, but he was still half asleep as his tail curlers were still in and he hadn't made any move to remove them. I said nothing, fighting the urge to smile the whole time as he added some cream into his coffee. He cleared me to leave, and I headed for the borders, the scent of strawberries weakening as I got closer to the outskirts of camp.

I hadn't even crossed the borders yet when I found other demigods, all of whom I recognized as the trio of questers. Cleo was standing off to the side, watching in silence as Luke and Thalia argued, both of them using their hands as they spoke, causing for the daughter of Apollo to flinch whenever they got too close to her.

I waved at Cleo, getting her attention and a weak smile from her. Her gaze shifted to the fighting duo before returning my gaze, making a gag-me motion with her hand as the two began to argue louder.

In a silent conversation, I asked her what was wrong, to which she replied by rubbing her fingers together in a sign that could only mean one thing: money, or lack thereof. I guess Hermes forgot to provide anything that could be of use to his son on this quest, including money or transportation.

"Oh, great," I heard Thalia sneer as I began walking down the hill, not wanting to get involved unless I absolutely had to. "You're here."

"Good morning to you too, Thalia," I replied sarcastically, rolling my eyes at the venom in her voice. "I was just leaving. Don't mind me."

I made it a couple feet away before hearing Luke say, "Wait, Andy!" Turning around, I watched as Luke ran down to meet me, careful not to trip over the long tree roots that covered the ground. "You said you'd always have our backs, right?"

"I did."

"And that you'd always help us?"

"Yup."

"Great," Luke sighed in relief. "Hermes didn't give us resources for this quest, and Chiron could only give us a hundred dollars in mortal money. Do you have anything that could help us?"

I blanched, more out of anger than fear. How did the gods expect their children to survive off a hundred dollars when quests could last weeks and usually had three people on them? Hades, in food alone, that hundred dollars could be spent within three days.

"Give me a sec," I told him, rummaging through my bag for the rest of my allowance. Salina gave me a monthly allowance of five thousand dollars a month, much more than I ever wanted or asked for, but I had used the majority of that money while on the run with Luke, Thalia, and Annabeth and helping Sally Jackson escape from Smelly Gabe.

Apartments in New York were extremely expensive, so I had given Sally four thousand dollars to help her with rent and food, but she'd have to deal with mortgages herself. And while on our way to camp, I had used five hundred dollars to provide us with food and supplies when we needed it.

I pulled out my remaining wad of twenties and kept two bills before handing the remaining four hundred and sixty dollars to Luke, who stared at the cash incredulously. Honestly, Luke could've probably made do with the hundred dollars, what with being a child of Hermes after all. I'd seen firsthand how amazing Luke was with sweet talking people and picking locks, but having a little back up cash couldn't hurt.

"That's all I have left," I said, closing his hand so that it wrapped around the cash wad. "I hope that helps. Oh, and one other thing, too." Reaching into my bag, I felt my little pouch of drachmas that I had collected from places I'd rather not mention. I pulled out ten and handed them to Cleo, who had moved to stand next to Luke.

"What _are_ these?" Thalia questioned, picking one of the gold coins up and holding it up to the sunlight. "Solid gold?"

"These are drachmas, made of pure gold. You might need them for immortal transactions."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Cleo asked, placing the coins into a leather pouch that hung on her waist.

"Iris-messages, Hermes express, bribery, and the like," I explained, brushing off the concern in her voice. "You'll know when you need them."

That seemed to satiate the trio's questions, and after making sure that they were all set, I made my way to the road and started walking alongside it, planning to hail a taxi as soon as I reached a more urban area. While I had no doubt that New York cabbies would pull over on the side of the road if it meant getting paid, I didn't want anyone to get hurt because of me. I would rather walk through the summer heat instead.

After an uneventful taxi ride and a verbal fight with the security guard that made the poor guy almost pee himself, I was on my way to Olympus via the elevator while some gods awful music played. I vowed to ask Apollo to change this music during my week with him, because hearing some Italian guy moan didn't exactly earn someone's respect when visiting Olympus.

Eventually I found Athena's temple with Salina's guidance, the familiarity of her presence indicated by some pressure I felt behind my eyes. I had learned my lesson about asking for directions from the nymphs and satyrs before, and I would be damned if I was going to be late to meeting one of my favorite goddesses of all time.

One time for Halloween, I had dressed up as Athena after making the dress myself. I had gone to Goodwill along with some of the other girls, including Rebecca, Leah, and Jade to find costumes we could wear. While my friends found their costumes – a ninja, steam punk, and Alice from _Alice in Wonderland_ respectively – I only found pieces I liked, nothing really catching my attention.

Then I had the great idea of combining costumes, and with the little money I had, I bought all the accessories I needed to be a Greek goddess and a long flowy dress that flowed from gold to blue. But the dress was almost in tatters, so I bought some more blue fabric and spent the next couple days sewing up what I could.

Needless to say, my friends and I had an awesome Halloween that year, excited with our costumes as Mrs. Stetson took us to the annual Halloween Dance that the high school threw every year for everyone in our town. Hey, we were a small town.

When I reached Athena's palace, I stood outside the white fence for a few moments in complete awe of the palace. The entire building was entirely made of polished Carrara marble, a stone that could only be found in Italy. But instead of being an open aired building like the Parthenon, it was built like any modern home with a ton of cool features like the different gears that covered the doors and the garden of olive plants that grew defensively around the perimeter.

Owls flew freely across the entire front yard, completely indifferent about my presence. My favorite owl by far was a snowy owl that was perched on the porch of the palace, its yellow eyes shining with intelligence as it shook its head.

"You're early," someone said from behind me, and when I whirled around, I realized that my daggers were already in my hands, ready to fight. Of course, just as it had happened with Salina, I was standing face to face with Lady Athena, who merely looked at me like a roach she could crush under her shoe.

Her steely gray eyes were cold and unforgiving, but I could still make out that glimmer of curiosity as she examined my posture. Once I came to my senses, I kneeled and sheathed my daggers. "Lady Athena, forgive me for my actions."

"And why would I do such a thing?" she questioned, setting aside the scrolls that had been in her hands. "You just demonstrated magnificent instincts and form, something that is rare in many demigods. It's clear that you've had training before."

"I have, my lady," I answered, standing up while keeping my gaze on Athena's nose. I didn't want to insult her by looking her in the eyes if she was against that sort of thing. "When I escaped from my adoptive parents, I found refuge with a man who owned a dojo for some time. Turned out he was a demigod and helped train me."

"I see. Follow me, Andromeda, we must begin."

* * *

For the next couple of weeks, I couldn't even stand without all my muscles crying out in agony. My week with Athena had been as brutal as I had expected. She pushed me past my breaking point every single day, forcing me to fight her even after all my strength and adrenaline had faded and there was nothing else holding me up other than sheer will power.

I didn't even get time to rest with Athena. Towards the end of our week together, she started training me by attacking at random times. For example, one time I'd been sleeping after a long day of training followed by battle strategy class, and I'd barely rolled out of the way before Athena's spear almost imbedded itself in my chest.

I'd lost count of how many times she'd done that, but by far the most mortifying was the shower incident. Let me just say, fighting the goddess of battle strategy while sopping wet and wearing nothing but a hastily tied towel was an experience I wouldn't wish upon anyone. Afterwards, Athena and I both promised to never speak to another living soul about that, especially since my towel had fallen off halfway through the spar.

Yeah, not exactly my best moment.

After Athena came Apollo, who was surprisingly drill sergeant like when given the opportunity. Don't get me wrong, he still was flirty and annoyingly bubbly at times, but when it came to archery and healing, he wouldn't accept less than perfection. One day he had forced me to heal every injured nymph and satyr on Olympus using only my water and fire powers and some gauze.

"How's fire supposed to heal?" I had asked him as I had poured some water over a deep cut on a satyr's shoulder and forced the water to knit his skin back together.

"There are two types of flames demigods can inherit," Apollo had explained, shooting me a blinding smile once the satyr was fully healed while I was sweating buckets. "Hephaestus only gives this blessing out once every couple centuries, and his blessing can only harm. God of forges, after all, not exactly conducive to recovery. Anyhow, the second type of flame is the one Hestia controls. Like Hephaestus, her fire can be just as devastating as his, but since she is also the goddess of the Hearth, which is a peaceful domain, her fire can also heal."

During the day, when Apollo was strongest, we practiced archery until my fingertips bled from the amount of times I'd drawn back the string on a forty-pound bow, to which Apollo would hand me a bucket of water, tell me to get over it, and get back to practicing.

At night, Apollo began teaching me things that med students wouldn't need to know until their third or fourth year of med school, only skimming over the basics, leaving me to pick up where he left off. Never in my wildest dreams did I plan of becoming a doctor, but Apollo wanted me trained in field medicine to the best of my ability.

"I can't learn all of this in a week," I told him seriously one night as I reread a chapter on every type of cardiothoracic disease I may encounter in my life, trying to retain as much as possible. Honestly, all I could remember were the basics and some names, but that wouldn't do me any good if I didn't know what the names corresponded to.

"And I don't expect you to," Apollo replied, just as serious, not a hint of his joker-self present. "You're only fourteen, for one thing, and even most doctors don't know what I want you to know. One step at a time, Andy, starting with the cardiovascular system."

Of everything that I learned in my short time with Apollo, his behavior is what shocked me the most. While Rick Riordan described him as an immature playboy, after realizing the gravity of my presence on Olympus, Apollo shed that façade, acting more like an adult than a teenager.

But the most terrifying I'd witnessed in my week with Apollo was when the spirit of the Oracle of Delphi hijacked him in the same way the Fates tried to show me something. However, while the Fates usually did this while I was asleep or in a safe place, the Oracle's spirit swarmed Apollo in an eerie green light, wrapping him up in smoke.

He fell to his knees, his eyes glowing green as he screamed, the words of the Oracle known only to the sun god. I had screamed Apollo's name repeatedly, stopping when his hands lashed out and closed around my throat. I kicked and punched him all to no avail. He was a god with unlimited strength, and even with all my powers, I was still a demigod.

Thankfully for me, the Oracle of Delphi finally released Apollo from her hold as I was about to pass out. Apollo had blinked twice before immediately releasing me, his hands trembling in fear of what had just occurred.

I coughed repeatedly until I could breathe again, and after receiving a barrage of apologies from Apollo – something that seemed very out of character for him – he healed me by humming a simple hymn in Ancient Greek.

"Does that happen often?" I had asked, gingerly rubbing my neck, glad that Apollo's healing had done its job.

He set his jaw and glared at me, his gaze so piercing that I wanted to go crawl into a hole and never come out. Okay, so this was a touchy subject for him. Got it.

Then, he sighed, pushing his long blond hair out of his face. "Only when a threat is rising," Apollo answered softly, wiping his hands on his shorts. "But you don't need to worry about that right now. Just know that if the spirit of the Oracle seizes control, don't touch me until it's passed or else I may unintentionally hurt you."

"Noted."

That had been the end of that conversation, and Apollo and I acted like I hadn't watched his own Oracle take control of his body within our first week of training. After that experience, I understood why Apollo acted so immaturely what with all his pranking with Hermes and trying to woo every girl, and the occasional guy, he came across.

As the god of prophecy and the sun, Apollo saw everything that happened during the day as well as the future. He alone witnessed every evil and despicable thing humanity did on a daily basis as well as be forced to experience the future. He's stuck between the present and the future while watching the worst atrocities unfold right in front of him, and he can't do anything about it.

So he hides behind his jokes, his smile and makes everyone believe that he's perfectly fine when that's anything but the truth. One time, when I'd gone to use the bathroom in the middle of the night, I heard Apollo's singing echo through his palace. His words were so depressing as he expressed his anguish about what appeared to be the death of one of his children, the haunting melody fifty times sadder than anything Adele could ever hope to write.

I had burst into tears where I was standing, the raw emotion too much for me to bear. I don't think Apollo knew I had heard him, but after that night, he was as cheery as ever, telling me that today was going to be awesome since I'd be with him for the next couple hours. There was no evidence of the amount of pain he was in in his eyes – that's how good he was at hiding the truth.

Needless to say, I'd grown extremely fond of Apollo and didn't want to leave, but I still had twelve other gods that expected me to show up for training.

Next was Hermes, who had somehow managed to convince Apollo to take over his duties for the week. I had a sneaking suspicion that a large number of drachmas were involved in this decision, but if it meant I'd have the messenger's god undivided attention, I figured it couldn't be that bad.

I was proved wrong within the first twelve hours.

My "warm up" had been twenty-six miles around a track that Hermes created in his backyard with a wave of his hand. Yes, I was to run the length of a marathon for a freaking warm up. I think I'm actually going to die.

I got as far as mile twelve at my pace before wanting to keel over from exhaustion, but I could feel Hermes' gaze on me as he watched from a metal bench he had summoned while I ran. As much as everything hurt, I was going to get at least halfway.

I knew with a hundred percent certainty that I wasn't going to get the full twenty-six miles today, but if I could get halfway, that would be a success in my books. And sure enough, I got past mile thirteen and promptly collapsed, panting heavily as I tried to stave off the dark spots in my vision.

"We've got our work cut out ahead of us," Hermes said, giving me a helping hand and a bottle of blue Gatorade.

I took little sips of the Gatorade, remembering what Apollo had said about drinking too much fluid after extreme exercise. Personally, I didn't feel like throwing up at the moment, so I drank the Gatorade slowly until my vision returned back to normal.

Hermes also handed me a little piece of ambrosia, telling me that I'd need my strength for what he had planned next. Basically, Hermes spent two days treating me like a track and field athlete, making me do long distance running, sprinting, hurdles, and shotput to name a few.

On day three, which is today, he wanted to have me try to reach seventeen miles around the track. "Set achievable goals, and you'll perform better," Hermes told me while I stretched, hopping on one leg as I pulled my other leg with my hand to stretch my hamstrings and quadriceps.

Once I finished warming up, I started running, setting a comfortable pace for myself. As I ran, music played from Hermes' radio, and to my joy, he was playing some of my favorite bands like Green Day and Blink-182. Honestly, I think that's the main reason I felt normal when I finished my seventeen miles. Sure, I was breathless and dripping with sweat, but I wasn't on the verge of passing out like I was a few days ago.

Hermes gave me a look of approval and went to say something, only to be interrupted when his caduceus suddenly appeared in his hand, signaling that George and Martha had a message for him. The two snakes slithered around the gold pole while Hermes nodded his head, his face contorted into one of almost concern but could just as easily be played off as indifference.

"Everything okay, my lord?" I asked as I wiped my sweat away with a towel I'd brought from Hermes' palace.

"Everything's fine," he replied, his answer audibly strained.

"How's Luke doing?"

"That does not concern you, Andromeda," Hermes said, the underlying threat in his voice evident in every word he spoke.

I held up my hands in surrender trying to placate him. "Just asking. I mean, if he needs help, I'm allowed to run on missions for the gods seeing that I'm not restricted by the Ancient Laws."

A look of understanding crossed Hermes' face before glancing down at me as I unscrewed the cap of my water bottle and started to drink it. He gave me a genuine smile before saying, "Andy, I send you to go aid my son in his return to Camp Half-Blood. All we need is to tell Zeus, and you can be on your way."

"As you wish, my lord," I said, bowing my head in reverence before walking into the little field house Hermes had added by the track. I took a lightning fast shower and threw on a plain t-shirt, a pair of jeans, and laced up my combat boots.

Hermes then placed his hand on my shoulder and flashed the two of us to the throne room. Seeing that the throne room was empty with the exception of Hestia, I looked at Hermes in confusion, who only shot me a knowing smirk.

Moments later, Zeus appeared in a bolt of lightning, gazing down at the both of us in indifference. I got down to kneel. "So, you have your first mission I presume?" Zeus asked, turning his attention to Hermes.

"Yes, Father," Hermes answered, patting my back so hard he almost knocked me over. "We just need your permission and she'll be on her way."

"Yes, yes, the girl may leave Olympus. Is that all?"

"Not quite, Lord Zeus," I said, getting back up to my feet. "I have a serious matter that I must discuss with you," – I turned to Hermes, suddenly uncomfortable about what I was going to ask – "alone, my lord."

"Andy, what's going on?" Hermes asked me. And while it was evident he wasn't done interrogating me, Zeus held up his hand, forcing the messenger god to bite his tongue.

"I'll allow it," Zeus said, shooing Hermes away with a flick of his hand. Hermes gave me one last look before disappearing in a flash of white light. "Now, tell me what is so urgent that it must be kept between the two of us."

"Let's just say it's about Thalia, my lord."

* * *

"That went about as well as I expected," I said as I spat out the mouthful of dirt I'd just gotten thanks to Zeus. He could say he agreed with me all he wanted, but I knew he was still upset by my abrupt landing on Earth.

I had told him everything about the vision I had, excluding the part about Percy and replacing that information by keeping my description of him extremely vague. I even told him that I had a sneaking suspicion it had been Kronos or one of his minions to show me that, which Zeus didn't appreciate, telling me that I was crazy to believe our father was that powerful already.

But I managed to use Zeus' paranoia to my advantage, and he finally consented for me to finish what he had attempted the day I got Thalia across the border and into Camp Half-Blood. While he clearly cared for Thalia very much, he'd sacrifice a child of his any day of the week if it meant postponing the rise of Kronos.

"Now, where am I?" I asked myself, brushing the remaining dirt off my ground and jumping the fence of the backyard I had just landed in.

Wherever I was, it was clearly a residential area. While the houses weren't exactly next to each other like you'd see in a movie, they were close by, separated by some land or bushes for privacy but still completely accessible if you were to walk.

I wandered on the sidewalk, trying to figure out why Zeus had sent me here of all places instead of to where Cleo, Thalia, and Luke were. It wasn't until I reached the end of the road that I realized where I was.

Swearing in every language I knew, I ran towards the sprawling colonial house situated at the end of the road, half expecting for black smoke to be pouring from the windows. And sure enough, as I reached the outside porch, I could smell something burning from the other side of the door.

I rang the doorbell and waited for a few seconds until Cleo opened the door, visibly jumping back at the sight of me. "Andy?" she questioned, gesturing for me to come in. "What are you doing here?"

"I was sent to help you guys," I said, following her as she made her way through the house like she lived here.

Mirrors covered every possible surface – against the walls, leaning on the fireplace mantel, glued to the ceiling, and even in the corners of all the rooms. It was like walking into the mirror room in a fun house except there were ten times the amount of mirrors and at least fifty reflections of yourself wherever you looked.

And in the little space that was void of mirrors were plushies of the different gods and monsters. I saw a couple of Minotaur and hydra stuffed animals tossed haphazardly throughout the house, one even taped to the back of the front door to cover the peep hole. Creepy, to say the least, but I guess it wasn't the worst case scenario when entering into the home of a mentally unstable woman.

Cleo opened another door, revealing a kitchen that was overflowing with burnt cookies, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and pitchers of bright red Kool-Aid. Black smoked flowed from the oven, but the window had been opened, preventing the fire alarms from going off.

Sitting in the attached dining room was Thalia, Luke, and an older woman who I didn't initially recognize. She appeared to be in her late forties, possibly even into her early fifties, with bleached blonde hair that stood up in every possible direction, like she'd stuck her finger into an electrical outlet. She wore a simple gray nightgown and matching slippers, making her seem like a harmless woman.

It wasn't until I caught a glimpse of her eyes that I was truly afraid. They were a light shade of green, the color of grass in the springtime, but whatever beauty used to be in them was utterly destroyed by the visible fractures in her irises. It was if her eyes were made of glass and someone had broken them.

"Oh, I knew you'd come back!" May Castellan said excitedly, clapping her hands together. "Isn't that right, Mrs. Medusa?" She picked up a Medusa stuffed animal from the table and forced the doll to nod.

Luke was watching his mother with…pity? Anger? Honestly, I wasn't all that sure. His jaw was set in a way that he wasn't expressing that much emotion, the only give away that he was uncomfortable being the dangerous glint that would appear in his eyes whenever she would mention his father.

Thalia was sitting to Luke's left, her right arm in a makeshift sling while she held Luke's hand, most likely hoping to comfort him. She was squirming uncomfortably in her seat as Ms. Castellan doted on them, shoving platefuls of burnt cookies and moldy sandwiches in their direction.

I watched as Cleo bent down and picked up a burnt cookie, mouthing the words, "Can we leave?" to Luke as Ms. Castellan ran to the kitchen, returning with a pitcher of freshly made Kool-Aid.

It wasn't until Ms. Castellan bumped into me that she acknowledged my existence, gripping tightly onto my shoulders as her eyes started to glow green in the same way Apollo's had when the Oracle of Delphi hijacked his mind.

 _"_ _His fate!"_ she rasped out, her voice low and sounding like there were three of her. _"No, not my son! Save him!"_

Then May Castellan promptly passed out in my arms.

* * *

 **School is slowly sapping my will to live!**

 **Other than that, how are you guys?**

 **Thanks for reading! I love you all!**


	9. Chapter 9

To her credit, Cleo sprang into action, clearing the dining table of its contents and telling me where to set Ms. Castellan. While she did her daughter of Apollo thing, Luke stormed out of the room towards the parlor, and Thalia turned to me, her eyes burning with hatred and jealousy.

"What are you doing here?" she hissed, sparks visibly jumping between her fingers. "Last I checked, you were on your way to Olympus, _away_ from our quest."

"I was sent to help," I told her calmly, noticing a flash of light from underneath the door that Luke had walked out of. If this was history repeating itself despite my intervention, I think I knew what was happening on the other side of the wall.

"We don't need your help, Andy." Thalia took a step forward and grimaced as her arm jostled from the sling loosening. It was a very makeshift sling, even by Cleo's standards, only being held up with some twigs and being composed of a small piece of cloth. I guess Cleo had run out of provisions sometime during the quest and didn't have a chance to restock.

"It's been three weeks," I reminded her gently. "Hermes was getting worried."

Thalia laughed humorlessly. "As if the gods actually care about their children. Hermes probably only sent you to make sure his name hasn't been dishonored."

"That's not true."

"Wow, only three weeks on Olympus and they've already brainwashed you. I thought you of all people would be more careful."

"What's _that_ supposed to mean?" Thalia shook her head, deciding that I wasn't worth the effort, instead asking Cleo for an update while blatantly disregarding my question.

Okay, this wasn't the Thalia from the books who I adored. This was Thalia's dark side, where her bitterness was shining through instead of the goodness I knew she had inside of her. Gods, I understand her reasoning completely, but I never thought I'd live to see the day where Thalia was openly badmouthing Olympus.

Luke walked back into the room a few minutes later, just as his mom was starting to stir. "Goodness me," she said, holding a hand to her head as she slid off the table. "I've forgotten about the cookies."

"Let's go," Luke said gruffly, not sparing his mother a second glance before making a break for the front door before she could beg him to stay again.

Thalia and Cleo obeyed, shutting the door behind them as they followed Luke, leaving me alone in the kitchen with May Castellan as she tended to the cookies for a son who would never come home.

* * *

I caught up with the trio as they loaded up into a black Honda Accord, Luke closing the trunk before going for the driver's seat. But before he got in the car, he looked up, jumping slightly in surprise as he finally realized that I had been here the whole time.

"He sent you," Luke said as a statement, eying me warily. His fingers drifted down to the hilt of his sword, stopping only once he had a firm grasp around the grip. "Why?"

"He thought you needed help."

"Well, you can tell dear old dad to stick it where the sun don't shine, because if he thinks sending you every time I need something is going to keep me here…" Luke cut himself off, shaking his head in anger. "He is mistaken. If you could please tell him to stay out of my life forever, that would be much appreciated."

"Luke," I started, reaching out for him.

"Don't follow us," he threatened, handing his sword to Thalia in the passenger seat before climbing into the car, slamming the door shut. Within seconds, the car was peeling out of the driveway, heading to gods-know-where.

"Great," I muttered under my breath, spinning my bracelet nervously, my charms slapping against my skin. How the hell am I supposed to catch up to a car? Last I checked, my legs were my only mode of transportation, both in my past life and this one.

Even though I knew it was hopeless, I started running after Luke's car, pouring on as much speed as I could. I almost caught up, too, but once I was found out, Luke gunned it, speeding away, probably heading for the freeway to return to camp.

Then I thought of stealing a car but quickly shut that idea down. While I can drive, I'd get pulled over by the cops the second someone caught a glimpse at me. Sadly, I was one of those people that had a baby face, and while that may be nice when I'm adult, it really worked against me at the moment.

 _Salina?_ I asked mentally, slowing down to catch my breath. Thankfully for me, the streets were empty, so no one was questioning why a fourteen-year-old girl was full on sprinting to catch up to a car. _I need help._

 _Already done, my child._

I know I've said this before, but I love Salina.

I looked up and down the road, expecting for some type of car to pull up, but instead, I watched as a black spot grew bigger in the sky as it approached. The spot eventually took the form of a winged horse, a pegasus, which made me giddy with joy. In the little time I'd been at Camp Half-Blood, we never got to have our pegasi class, so I never had the chance of riding a pegasus, something that was on my bucket list from the moment I learned I was coming to this Earth.

I bit back a squeal of excitement as the pegasus landed, settling on smiling so widely that my face started to hurt. As I'd seen, the pegasus was completely black from muzzle to tail, giving them an extremely elegant air around them.

That elegance was completely shattered when I heard, _Hey, boss!_ in my mind. But instead of being disappointed, my smile grew bigger. There was only one pegasus who called his riders boss: Blackjack.

 _I was told you needed a ride from a dashing pegasus by the nice lady,_ Blackjack humbly said, and I swear, I could see him smiling.

"Yeah, if you don't mind," I said, moving to pet him, hoping to gain his trust. "I need to catch up with some friends of mine."

 _Don't sound like friends if they left you behind,_ Blackjack said while lowering himself down for me to hop on. _But the nice lady promised doughnuts, so they can't be that bad._

I laughed at Blackjack's brutal honesty, and we took off, setting out to find a single car amongst the thousands that were sure to be on the freeway. But somehow, Blackjack knew exactly where to go, as if Salina had given him some kind of GPS to track demigods. Honestly, I wouldn't put it past her.

I shivered as the wind nipped at my skin, Blackjack having gone high enough to hide us in the clouds to keep Luke, Thalia, and Cleo – but mostly Luke and Thalia – unaware of our presence. Blackjack kept up amusing conversation with me the whole time, commenting on weird things humans did that he thought were unnecessary or giving his honest opinions about the different people we saw from up here.

 _Can I ask you something, boss?_

"You just did," I laughed, "but sure."

 _How can you understand me? Are you a daughter of Poseidon?_

I stiffened on Blackjack's back, my blood running cold. Great, I was going to have my darkest secret found out by a pegasus first. But I didn't see any point in keeping the truth hidden from Blackjack. He seemed like an honorable pegasus, and I think if I ask him to keep this secret, he will. But I'll make sure to buy him all the doughnuts he wants anyways.

"Not exactly," I said, brushing my hair out of my mouth. "I'm the daughter of the Titan King."

Blackjack suddenly stopped flying, which would've made me fall off if it wasn't for the fact that I was already holding onto his neck. He twitched a little but then resumed our pursuit of the trio, shaking his head back and forth like he couldn't believe what I'd just said.

 _Are you a good guy? Err, girl?_

"I will never help my father," I promised him, petting his mane to calm him down. "He wants to watch the world burn. I will do everything in my power to stop him, Blackjack."

 _Okay, just making sure, boss. Not all his kids are the warm and fuzzy type, if you know what I mean._

"Unfortunately."

 _Well, as long as you don't destroy doughnuts, I don't see why we can't be friends._

I smiled once more, rolling my eyes at Blackjack's priorities. "Trust me, I won't destroy doughnuts any time soon."

 _Gods bless America! Now, what were we doing?_

"Following my friends."

 _Right! On it, boss!_

Then we dove, falling so quickly that my stomach was left behind in the clouds. I couldn't see where we were heading, but Blackjack landed on the hood of a black Honda Accord that had been parked outside a gas station. I was going to ask him how he knew this was the right car, but I saw Cleo's medical bag sitting in the back seat and knew Blackjack had done his job.

"Thank you," I told Blackjack, petting him one more time before disembarking off his back and hopping onto the ground. "I'll make sure Salina gives you all the doughnuts you want."

 _You're the lady, boss!_ Blackjack exclaimed, his wings fluttering in excitement. _Anytime you need me, I'm your horse!_

"I'll remember that. Thank you again." And then Blackjack was gone, racing up to the clouds in a black blur and disappearing moments later.

I then turned to the car, debating what I was going to do. I could unlock the car with some bobby pins I had in my hair, but then I'd be found out immediately. There was also the trunk, but picking that lock would take something more than simple bobby pins.

Turning to face the gas station store, I saw that Luke was paying for whatever he'd gotten, meaning I was running out of time. I reached into my bag, rummaging around until I pulled out a pair of scissors I'd shoved in there.

Getting down on my knees, I jammed the tip of the scissors into the keyhole alongside a bobby pin, jiggled them both a few times, and the trunk's lock clicked open. I only had a few seconds to throw myself in, landing roughly on top of three backpacks and a brown sack, before pulling the trunk down again, plunging myself into darkness.

When the car turned on about a minute later, a little red light turned on, allowing me to see my newfound space for the foreseeable future. After readjusting the trio's backpacks and the sack, which must've held the Golden Apples, I laid down, summoning my own bag to use as a makeshift pillow.

Within a few minutes, I fell asleep, realizing how exhausted I really was.

* * *

I was standing in a palace so black, I thought it was made of pure darkness. Bright green torches lit with Greek fire punctuated the darkness at measured lengths, marking where corridors split and began. In the dimly lit room, the firelight reflected off different precious jewels that were embedded into the obsidian stones, displaying the riches of the person who lived here.

The torches suddenly died out, only a few left burning, presumably serving as a trail for me to follow. And so I followed the torches, my footsteps echoing off the walls as the torches extinguished themselves after I passed by them.

The Greek fire trail led me to a throne room that held two thrones. The one on the left was slightly taller than the one on the right, made of the same material that the rest of the palace was built with. The throne on the right was sleeker, almost more feminine like, especially in the way that bright red flowers laced the armrests.

All of a sudden, the throne room glowed with Greek fire, shining just as brightly as any building that had fluorescent lighting. Standing guard at every entrance were army soldiers of various countries and wars, including the weapon that corresponded to the time period of their war. I then realized that if I stared too long at any one soldier, their skin would shimmer, and I could see their skeleton underneath.

It took me all of three seconds to recognize where I was, causing me to reach for my bracelet. Honestly, I wasn't sure if I did it out of nerves, or if I was going to arm myself. The guards didn't seem like the friendly type, but they hadn't attacked either, so I figured I was safe for the time being.

The throne room then began to shake, causing for small stones and dirt to fall to the floor. I looked up, half expecting for the ceiling to collapse in, but then turned my attention back to the thrones, where shadows seemed to be coalescing into the body of a person.

I was already on my knees by the time Hades appeared, fighting off his frightening aura while keeping my eyes fixated on the ground. Now that the Lord of the Underworld returned, I heard and felt shades pass next to and through me, hissing at the proximity of living flesh.

"You may rise, Andromeda," Hades told me, his voice as soft as the edge of a razor sharp blade.

I stood up, biting on the inside of my cheek to prevent myself from shaking in fear. The last time I'd spoken to Hades, I'd been in a room with other gods who had voted to keep me alive. Now I was with the God of the Dead, who had voted against me, by myself with dead soldiers that would tear me to pieces if Hades gave the word.

Hades looked me up and down a couple times, scowling the entire time. He surprised me even more when he climbed out of his throne, shrunk to his human height of around six-five, and had an up close examination, circling around me like a predator waiting to make his kill.

"Too young, but I suppose you'll do," he said, stalking back to his throne while I watched the spirits in his robes writhe in agony.

"What is it you require of me, my lord?" I asked at last, surprised at how sure I sounded even though I wanted to run for the hills.

"I have a little problem that I need for you to take care of," Hades began, his onyx eyes alight with a sickening kind of glee, the same fire you'd see burning in the eyes of a madman or serial killer. "As you know, there is a Great Prophecy that says that the fate of Olympus rests on the shoulders of a child of the Big Three. You know who those are?"

"You, Poseidon, and Zeus," I answered, watching as pride shone across Hades' face when I acknowledged him first.

"Yes. Anyhow, I was forced into an oath with my brothers that we would not sire anymore children, therefore postponing the prophecy for as long as possible. But it seems like a certain brother of mine couldn't keep it in his pants, and now the girl is a mere four years from her sixteenth birthday."

"What am I to do with this information?"

"I'm glad you asked," Hades said, a malicious grin replacing his scowl. He waved a hand in my direction, causing for a whistle made of ice to drop into my hands. The whistle burned my skin, leaving my palms and fingertips tinged red as I passed it from hand to hand. "That is a whistle made of Stygian ice. Blow it, and you shall summon the same legion of monsters you and that pesky daughter of Zeus killed the day you arrived at Camp Half-Blood."

"Why would I…oh," I said, realizing what Hades was asking me to do. "You mean…?"

"Yes. That girl cannot be allowed to be the child of the prophecy. I don't care if the rest of the world burns, that girl must die."

Swallowing a lump in my throat, I pocketed the Stygian ice whistle into my bag, my heart thudding away in my chest. I knew Zeus already agreed that Thalia couldn't be the child of the prophecy, but I always assumed that he would turn a blind eye and let Hades attack her with monsters.

I didn't want to be the one responsible for the death of Thalia Grace, but it looks like that's what I'll have to do. Besides, it's not like she's going to die for real; she'd be healed in a couple years with the Golden Fleece.

"Okay," I replied weakly, immense guilt still weighing against my shoulders.

"Do not feel sorry for the girl," Hades said coldly, gripping his armrests so tightly I thought he was going to rip them off. "She will not suffer immensely."

That's reassuring, I thought to myself, pursing my lips as I nodded at Hades. He seemed satisfied with my answer and stood up, slashing at the air and vanishing into the shadows, leaving me in the throne room.

It didn't last long, however, as I jerked awake when I got thrown against the sides of the trunk. Okay, so we were either hit, or Luke just slammed on the brakes really aggressively. I really hope it was the latter.

I was proved wrong when I heard the car's doors being thrown shut and a lot of cursing, more than I expected from Luke and Thalia. I could already imagine Cleo clapping her hands over her ears, attempting to block out the foul language.

Crap, I thought as the footsteps started getting closer, I was going to get caught, _again._ Quickly remembering my conversation with Hades, I imagined fading into the shadows and reappearing behind Cleo, who would be the least likely to kill me for still being here.

Just as the trunk started to open, I heard the voices of the dead as I was pulled into another shadow, working the same way that a subway would in very simplistic terms. Even that description didn't do it justice, but I could focus too much on that as I was now completely exposed to the questing trio. I summoned a dagger and sheathed it at my belt, just in case someone felt like attacking me.

"I thought I told you not to follow us," Luke said, raising an eyebrow at me as he slung his backpack over his shoulders before picking up the brown sack.

"And I told you I was sent to help. I'm physically not allowed to return to Olympus until my mission is completed," I told him, ignoring Thalia's glares while Cleo shrugged, accepting the fact that I wasn't going anywhere.

"Let her help us, Luke," Cleo pleaded as she slung on her backpack, clipping it shut across her chest. "We've been gone for almost a month now. I want to go back to camp."

Thalia's glare softened at Cleo's words, looking at the younger girl with compassion. The daughter of Apollo wasn't much older than Annabeth, but unlike Annabeth, she hadn't chosen to go into the mortal world willingly. Cleo had been brought along as a quest member, and because she cared too much to let people get hurt, she tagged along even if it meant leaving the safety of Camp Half-Blood.

"As much as I don't like this, Cleo's right," Thalia said, turning to the son of Hermes, who was still brooding. Wow, that must've taken some major pride swallowing to admit that they needed my help.

That only made me feel worse as I felt the burning cold of the Stygian ice against my wrist even though my bag was currently in charm form. I decided then I'd blow the whistle when the time was right, when I was by myself.

"Fine," Luke conceded, shutting the trunk and kicking the side of the now wrecked car. The front was completely crumpled in, the windshield having shattered completely and parts of the engine strewn out across the street. "Let's go before the cops show up."

* * *

We managed to stumble across a train station somewhere near Hartford, and after Luke agreed, I went ahead and bought us four tickets to Grand Central Station. However, we still had another three hours to kill before our train was to arrive, and gods only knew what four hyperactive demigods could do in three hours.

Not much, to my surprise. I don't know what had happened over the past three weeks, but the second that Cleo found us someplace to sit, she and Thalia were out like a light, leaving Luke and I to keep watch.

Luke was still brooding, and if the light caught him just right, it made him appear like the villain in a movie. He would've been scarier had he gotten that scar from Ladon, but this time around, he managed to evade the wound.

I on the other hand pulled out a book, _Fahrenheit 451,_ and started to read to pass the time. Between the two of us, we didn't talk for a long time, allowing for Thalia and Cleo to catch up on some much needed sleep.

When I eventually looked up, I saw that Luke was struggling to stay awake, his eyes drooping in exhaustion. "You can sleep," I told him, flipping to the next page. "I'll keep watch."

"No," he said, stifling a yawn with his hand. "They need me."

"You're right about that. But how helpful are you going to be when you're about to drop dead from lack of sleep in the middle of a battle? Take a nap, Luke."

Luke glared at me, which I returned with the same ferocity until he sighed and turned away, yawning one more time. He then pulled out a jacket from his backpack and set it behind his head, using it as a makeshift pillow.

I glanced over at the large clock mounted on the brick walls of the station, pursing my lips together when I realized we still had a little over two hours to go. I kept reading, pausing every few minutes to survey our surroundings before returning to my book, maintaining that air of normalcy that would serve to keep us anonymous in the crowd of mortals.

Cleo woke up an hour later, rubbing her eyes and yawning, taking in the train station through slow blinks. She yawned one more time and stood up to stretch, turning to me once she saw that I was still reading.

I then asked her to keep watch, claiming that I needed to use the bathroom, to which she replied with a groggy nod as she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. I wasn't necessarily lying – I needed to use the bathroom – but that wasn't the only reason I left.

I figured that in a place full of mortals and seeing that we only had a little under an hour to go before our train arrived, now would be a good time as any to use that stupid whistle Hades had given me. Hopefully the monsters wouldn't appear right then and there, tracking us as we made our way to New York. Or better yet, they'd spawn right there, saving them the effort.

After running out of the bathroom, I ducked my way under some construction tarp, revealing new infrastructure for some more tracks to be added. Once I was positive no one was around, I pulled the whistle out of my bag and blew it, the ice shattering in my hands the second I was done.

I waited a few seconds before returning to my friends, fighting off the stinging feelings in my eyes. I had just signed Thalia's death warrant with something as trivial as blowing a dumb whistle.

"The train's here," I said emotionlessly, motioning to it as sparks flew from the wheels from the breaks. No use in beating myself over my actions now. What's done is done.

I handed out the tickets to Cleo, Luke, and Thalia, ignoring the looks of surprise on their face when they saw I'd gotten us first class seats. Honestly, they hadn't been all that expensive – only three hundred for the four of us.

No one said anything to me as I walked onto the train, showing one of the employees my ticket before going to my seat. Our seats had been together, centered around a wooden table as if we were going to have dinner on a two hour trip.

Cleo took the seat next to mine while Luke and Thalia sat across from us, setting their backpacks between their legs underneath the table. I was looking out the window, watching the second hand on the clock as it ticked, reminding me of how little time I had to make this work.

Resting on the top of my bag, right within arm's reach, was the purple potion Salina had given me a few weeks ago. The words of our last interaction still burned in my mind: _You must be the one to set things right. This is your birthright._

No wonder so many demigods hated the Olympians, I thought to myself as the train pulled out of the station, the conductor blowing the horn a few times as we started gaining speed. The gods viewed their children as their servants and treated them as such, and when they'd ask for nothing more than for a few questions to be answered, they'd disappear without so much as a simple thank you.

None of us were able to sit for the entire two hours, our ADHD-riddled brains preventing us from doing so. I was pacing up and down the length of the car while Luke and Thalia had left for the dining car a while back. Cleo was playing someone else's guitar while sitting on the floor, flooding our car with music.

The four of us weren't together again until we were ten minutes away from the station. Unlike the rest of them, I was standing so stiffly that it was as if someone had tied me up to a plank of wood. I fiddled with my sword charm, debating when would be the right time to unsheathe my blade.

As the doors to the train opened and we disembarked, Thalia stiffened as well, her head becoming a swivel as she scanned Grand Central Station. "Something's wrong," she said, her hand reaching for the mace canister that was stowed away in her pocket.

"Then we shouldn't stay in one place for too long," I suggested, jostling my way through the barrage of people that were trying to make it down to the tracks.

"Camp's a couple miles away from here," Cleo said, her hand clamping down on my wrist so that she wouldn't be pushed around by the crowd. I don't know about you, but when you're eight-years-old and in the custody of fourteen-year-olds in a place as big as Grand Central Station, I'd be scared to get lost, too. "How are we going to get there?"

"Taxi?" Luke suggested, pulling the door open for us as we stumbled out onto the sidewalk.

Before I could say anything, I heard a piercing _whoosh_ break through the air. Moments later, pain exploded across my face, and I whirled around only to see that an arrow was embedded into the wall where I had been seconds ago.

"Ow," I said with a scowl, tugging on my bracelet, causing for my sword, Epithymia, which translates to wish, to appear in my hands. Blood poured down my cheek from the scratch I'd received, but I could care less at the moment.

Blocking the entire road with four large vans were monsters. Dracaenae, empousai, hellhounds, Telkhines, and Cyclopes streamed from the vans and manholes from the middle of the street. The mortals that were nearby screamed, running away from the vans as fast as possible, causing mass panic to spread.

Looks like my wish was granted.

"Andy, let's go!" Cleo said, pulling my wrist in the direction of the fleeing crowds.

I turned and saw that Luke and Thalia had disappeared, leaving Cleo to fend for herself. I cut an arrow out of the air before it could strike Cleo down before sheathing Epithymia again, scooping Cleo into my arms and running.

Anger fueled my body, catching up to Luke and Thalia, who had finally decided to arm themselves. "What the heck, guys?" I shouted at them, lunging sideways as a part of a nearby building exploded, sending dust and bricks into the air. (Before you ask, no, there was no Jason Grace anywhere to be hit with said bricks.)

"How are there so many of them?" Luke asked, turning around to slash a Cyclops' arm before its meaty hand could grab him.

"Did you piss off Hades?"

"My mere existence pisses him off!" I'll let you guess who said that.

"Down there!" Cleo shouted, pointing towards an alleyway a few feet ahead.

"We're going to be cornered!" Lightning boomed behind us, and I knew Thalia had just done her daughter of Zeus thing.

Using Cleo, we shoved some trash cans and recycling bins down, sending the Telkhines that had been hot on our tails sprawling against the asphalt. Ahead of us, cars swerved as they made desperate, and _very_ illegal, U-turns, jumping the median and bumping into the cars on the other lane as they tried to escape. Behind us was chaos, at least from what I could hear.

Despite what seemed like a horrible suggestion, the four of us took a hard left, sprinting into the dark and damp alley that Cleo had pointed out. I set Cleo down, knowing that speed was going to be the difference between life and death for us.

The four of us ran, leaping over protruding pipes and ducking falling debris, all while fighting off some dracaenae, who had taken to jumping out of windows from the buildings facing the alley we were in.

"Get us out of here, Andy!" Cleo pleaded, releasing a sonic arrow, its screeching sound hurting my ears while simultaneously incapacitating nearby hellhounds.

I wanted to ask her how exactly I was supposed to do that as Epithymia was currently hilt deep in the body of a dracaena while I dodged an empousa's fangs. As the dracaena I'd stabbed dissolved into gold dust, I whirled around, catching a downward blow from a Cyclops' club.

Okay, I thought as I sliced through a Telkhines like it was made of butter, time to give us some breathing room. While I could definitely use the darkness to our advantage, my Underworld powers were by far the most unstable, making them more dangerous than my pyrokinesis.

As I stepped into a puddle after being forced back by the Cyclops I was fighting, I noticed that the entire alleyway was full of puddles and moisture. I stabbed upwards, leaving a deep gash on the Cyclops' inner thigh that left him howling in pain, giving me the little time I needed to raise a hand, a wall of water forming as our shield.

"Run!" I yelled at the trio, beads of sweat starting to form on my forehead. Even with all the water in the alley combined, it wasn't enough to be more than seven feet tall and a few centimeters thick at most. The only thing that kept monsters running through the water like it was a waterfall was my command forcing it to act as a solid. I then took off after them, the water wall crashing down to the ground the second I was no longer facing it.

The monsters were all screaming in a mixture of Ancient Greek and English, but the message was pretty much the same: _Die!_ I flung myself over a fence, hissing slightly as I felt a sharp edge cut into my skin, but I kept running.

I don't think Hades had accounted for the fact that I was going to be here as well, or if he did, I figured he didn't care. I was just a pawn to him, leaving him indifferent about whether I lived or died.

Good news, I caught up with the others a few seconds later.

Bad news, the alley was a dead end, and now the four of us were pressed tightly against a rotting brick wall as the footsteps of the approaching monsters echoed off the walls.

"What do we do now?" Thalia asked, wincing as she moved her right arm. I realized that had been her injured arm, which she was making worse by fighting with both her spear and shield. Blood also bloomed from underneath her shirt, seeping through the gray fabric like an ink blot and a fresh sheet of paper.

"Oh, gods," Luke whispered, his face ashen as he turned to Thalia. He was completely ignoring the fact that he had a deep cut running from the bottom of his left eye to his chin, the wound bright red as it bled. "You're hurt."

"That's the least of my concerns," Thalia bristled, shoving Luke's hand away from her abdomen. "We're stuck with nowhere to go, and fifty monsters are heading our way. I'm more concerned about making it out of here alive."

To my horror, the trio looked to me for guidance. I'd only ever shadow-traveled twice, both times sapping my strength immensely. It was a miracle I was still standing at the moment after everything I'd gone through in the past two days. And I had no idea how to vapor or flame travel either, killing those ideas instantly. Maybe I could do something with my chlorokinesis, but unless I could make mold into a terrifying weapon, I was grasping at straws here.

But before I could make any type of decision, the walls on either side of us exploded.


	10. Chapter 10

Thalia had just enough time to raise Aegis over the four of us as bricks and metal rained down from the sky. Dust flew up into the air, clouding our vision and making us cough. I waved my hand back and forth, trying to clear the dust, wishing I hadn't once I saw was directly surrounding us.

It appeared as if some of the Cyclopes had rigged up some explosives to destroy the buildings encompassing the alley, and now, there were four of us in the smack center of a monster horde.

"Andy, do something!"

And I did. Something incredibly stupid, that is.

Although the majority of the walls had been destroyed, the gas main from one of the buildings was still intact. I lunged forward and slashed at the pipe, a steady hiss of gas filling the air as it escaped from the crack.

Then, I lit my hand on fire.

I know what you're thinking – that I'm a complete idiot, because while it served as a threat, there was the very real chance that the four of us would go boom as well.

But my threat was effective, sending some of the Telkhines and empousai who had been on the front lines scrambling backwards, not wanting to blow up. However, the Cyclopes that were there, maybe eight or nine, surged forward, unafraid as they were immune to fire.

"Take another step forward," I threatened, stepping towards the leaking gas main, "and we all blow up."

Internally, every fiber of my being was calling out for Blackjack and telling him to bring some back up, but externally, I had to maintain my composure. One of the Cyclopes tried to rush me, but I put a stop to that by launching a dagger of mine, letting it sink directly into his forehead as he started to crumple into dust.

Behind me, I heard Thalia cry out in pain, swearing under her breath. I also heard two arrows be released; whether it was from Cleo or an armed dracaena, I wasn't sure.

 _Hey, boss! Where you at?_ Blackjack said in my mind, leaving me so overjoyed that I wanted to cry in relief.

 _Down here!_ I projected, praying that he could hear me. _Get my friends out of here first. I'll meet up with you when I can._

 _You got it, boss!_

"Get to the top of those bricks," I whispered to the trio, launching my other dagger at another Cyclops. "Help has arrived."

I didn't turn around, only hearing the sound of footsteps scrambling up bricks. I waited a few more seconds before touching the gas main, a fireball forming almost instantaneously. There was more screaming as the fire spread with the leaking gas, racing in the direction of the sidewalk.

Although the fire didn't burn me, the gas was irritating my throat, making it difficult to breathe. But I couldn't leave yet, not when there were still seven Cyclopes calling for my blood.

Bending down, I scooped up my discarded daggers and whirled around, slashing at anything and everything that tried to touch me. When I got a little reprieve, I ran up the bricks, cursing underneath my breath when I tripped and banged my knee against a corner.

Standing atop the bricks was none other than Blackjack himself. _Hop on!_ he said, lowering himself as I slung myself onto his back, my arms and legs trembling from over exertion. I was about to ask him where the others were, but once I looked into the sky, I saw two other pegasi flapping their wings above the burning alleyway.

 _Where to?_ Blackjack asked as he zoomed up towards the clouds, leaving the screaming monsters and mortals in the distance.

"Camp Half-Blood," I rasped out, coughing repeatedly until I no longer felt like I was suffocating. "As fast as possible."

 _You heard the boss! Step on it!_

 _Oh, you're so on!_ the cream colored pegasus snorted, startling Cleo.

 _Last one there's a rotten apple!_ the dark brown pegasus cheered, taking off with Luke and Thalia in tow.

 _No fair, Guido!_ Cleo's pegasus whined before also taking off, leaving me alone with Blackjack.

"Those your friends?" I asked Blackjack as he started to fly, speeding through the clouds so quickly that the world was starting to warp quite literally.

 _Guido and Porkpie,_ Blackjack confirmed with a nod of his head. _They're competitive, but we get the job done._

"I'm giving you all apples when we get back to camp."

 _What about sugar cubes?_

"Aren't those really bad for you?"

 _Isn't the sun bad for you?_ Blackjack snorted. _Live a little, boss!_

I sighed, wincing as my hand brushed by my face, touching the cut that had been left behind by the arrow. Blood had stopped pouring from the wound, but my fingers were still stained dark red when I inspected them, meaning it was still open.

I would've tried to bandage it on the way to camp, but at the speed Blackjack was going, I had to hold onto him with both hands so I didn't fall off and end up somewhere in Brooklyn. We arrived a few minutes later, just as the sun was starting to set on the horizon.

To my surprise, Blackjack landed right outside the camp borders. I was about to ask why when I caught sight of Porkpie and Guido, but more importantly, their riders. The two pegasi were skittering nervously, neighing to each other as they circled around Luke, Thalia, and Cleo, acting like guards.

"What's going on?" I asked, slipping between Porkpie and Guido to meet up with the others. It didn't take me long to realize what I was witnessing and replied with an intelligent, "Oh."

Luke was hunched over Thalia, his body shaking with sobs as he clutched onto her hand, pulling up to his face, not even flinching when he pressed her hand against his wound. Cleo was furiously bandaging Thalia's abdomen, but a silent shake from her head told me all I needed to know.

Thalia was dying.

"Help her," Luke begged, his eyes glossy with tears as he turned to me. " _Please."_

I nodded grimly and got down to my knees, reaching into my bag and pulling out the purple vial. Thalia's breathing had become shaky, but she refused to show fear, telling Luke that it was okay.

"What's that?" Cleo asked.

"This potion won't save your life, but it will prolong it," I told Thalia, looking her in the eyes so she knew how serious and honest I was being. "This will keep you in a metamorphosis type state until we can heal you properly. But this is your choice, Thalia."

"Why are you helping me?" Thalia asked through rapid breaths, her teeth stained red with her own blood. "I've been nothing but rude and-"

"I don't care about that right now. All I care about is you staying alive." I paused for a breath, watching as she turned to Luke, tears shining in her electric blue eyes.

Luke gave her a reassuring nod and a weak smile. "I promise to wait for you," he told her, kissing the top of her hand gently. "I promise."

"I'm sorry to cut the moment short, but you need to make the choice now, Thalia," I said softly, fingering the cork at the mouth of the vial. "You don't have long, I'm afraid."

"I'll do it," she said not even a second later, eying the potion warily. "So what do I do?"

"Drink." I uncapped the vial and helped her sit up enough for her to drink the potion. Thalia downed the whole thing, grimacing at the taste, but sighing in relief. Whatever Salina had given me seemed to be working as Thalia no longer seemed to be in pain.

She sighed one more time before her eyes glassed over. Luke and Cleo gasped, crying as they thought Thalia had died before the potion could take effect. After explaining to a very angry Luke a couple times about what was happening, we watched as Thalia's limbs started to elongate, turning an oaky brown and appearing to turn into tree roots.

"Luke, you have a choice, too," I said, waving a hand over Thalia, halting the process of her turning into a tree.

"What choice do I have?" Luke bemoaned, hanging his head in despair. "The only choice I have is to find the cure to bring back my friend."

"You can do that, or you can join her."

"What?"

I told him everything that Salina had explained to me, which he took surprisingly well for watching one of his best friends die right in front of him. He agreed, though, and drank the last remaining droplets of the potion that had been left in the bottle. He then laid down, grabbed a hold of Thalia's hand, and I released the time bonds on Thalia.

Cleo wept the entire time, her face buried into my side as one huge pine tree grew to thirty feet tall over the course of five minutes, towering over every other pine tree in the valley. If you looked at the trunk in great detail, you could make out where Luke and Thalia were holding hands, a gesture of true friendship or possibly love.

I was crying too, hating the fact that I was the one responsible for their deaths. They trusted me to keep them safe, and now they were both combined into a tree. My sole consolation was that the apocalypse would be postponed for the time being as Thalia wouldn't be the child of the prophecy and Luke wouldn't turn into Kronos.

Blackjack walked up next to me, dropping a brown sack into my hands. Looking inside, there were three Golden Apples sitting inside, gleaming brightly like they hadn't been plucked off their tree three weeks ago. Cleo cried even harder at the sight of the apples, dashing through the border and towards the cabins.

 _I'm so sorry, boss,_ Blackjack said, neighing sadly. Guido and Porkpie had their heads bowed down in respect, also paying their condolences.

 _If I'd been faster, maybe she'd still be alive,_ Porkpie said, guilt lacing his voice. _The docs could've done something._

"Don't beat yourself up about it," I told the dark brown pegasus, petting his muzzle reassuringly. "She was hurt in battle. There's nothing anyone short of Apollo could've done."

 _Come on, boys. Give boss her space,_ Blackjack said to his friends, and the three pegasi walked into camp, heading in the direction of the stables with their heads held low.

I turned to the newly formed tree and placed my hand on the bark, tears flowing down my face as I did. What's worse, I could _feel_ their spirits within the tree, giving this pine tree an aura that resembled a dryad. But they were so happy to be with each other that I almost forgave myself for what I had done.

Almost.

I was so unaware of what was going on around me that I hadn't even heard the sound of dozens of footsteps approaching me. And because the Fates absolutely love me, standing at the front of the crowd was none other than Annabeth Chase.

She flung herself at the tree, hugging its trunk while her little body began to shake from the force of her tears. "No," she muttered under her breath. "This wasn't supposed to happen. We were supposed to be a family."

"Go to your cabins, now," Chiron told the campers, giving anyone who protested a stern look, daring them to keep pushing. He then joined Annabeth and me at the tree, sighing sadly as he reached out to touch the trunk, shaking his head solemnly.

"They were good heroes," he said, his face revealing just how old the centaur really was. "May they find peace in Elysium."

Annabeth started crying even harder at the mention of Elysium, her fingers digging so deeply into the wood I was worried she was going to give herself splinters. I ran my hand through her blonde curls, ignoring my exhaustion in favor of taking care the daughter of Athena.

"I'm sorry," I said, my voice breaking with emotion. I then handed the sack containing the Golden Apples to Chiron. "By the way, they succeeded."

Chiron opened the bag and pulled out an apple, examining it carefully before returning it into the sack. He then tied it to his waist with some string.

"They were so close," Annabeth said quietly, finally letting go of the tree and aggressively wiping away at her tears with the sleeve of her camp shirt. "I didn't even get to say goodbye."

And with that last statement, Annabeth turned on her heel and stormed back into camp, ignoring anyone who tried to ask her about what was so special about the new tree in the valley.

Chiron had a pained look on his face as he watched Annabeth run towards her cabin. "You should go to the infirmary," he told me emotionlessly, beginning to walk back into camp.

Even though I knew better, I followed Chiron anyways. Better to return to Olympus in one piece, I thought, making my way towards the addition to the back of the Apollo cabin.

* * *

According to Harry, I'd been unconscious for thirty-six hours after being admitted into the infirmary. While the other children of Apollo that were currently in the infirmary shot me worried looks between patients – last night had been Capture the Flag – I brushed off their concerns, telling them that it was just overexertion.

"Still," Harry said as he flipped through my chart. "You literally cracked your ribs three weeks ago and are now the Olympians personal punching bag. This isn't really the best way to heal, if you catch my drift."

"I'm fine, Harry," I said between sips of nectar. "Apollo cleared me my second day of training after Athena learned about my ribs. I promise, this happened because of overexertion."

"Whatever you say, Andy." Harry set his clipboard down at the foot of my bed and moved onto his next patient, leaving me to sip my cinnamon bun flavored nectar in silence.

After scanning the infirmary, I realized that Cleo wasn't here. I asked one of her sisters, Dawn, who told me that she was taking some time off from the infirmary in favor of having a more normal schedule like the other kids her age had.

I suspected this sudden disappearance from the infirmary had something to do with the results of her quest. I know if I was a child of Apollo who specialized in healing and couldn't help an injured friend, I would beat myself up over it. Especially having that amount of pressure at the age of eight…I can't imagine what Cleo must be thinking.

Harry gave me one last physical exam around noon, and after promising him that I wouldn't overexert myself like that again, he let me leave the infirmary. I had planned to ask Blackjack for a ride back to the Empire State Building to return to my training with Hermes, but that was quickly put to an end when I ran into James, who said to be at the amphitheater in five minutes.

Ignoring my confusion, I went down to the amphitheater, joining the stream of other demigods who were coming from all over camp. I took a seat underneath the flag with a caduceus, waiting for the rest of the Hermes cabin to make their appearance. By the time five minutes had passed, every camper was accounted for in the amphitheater, sitting under the banner of their godly parent's symbol.

Mr. D decided to make an appearance, taking a seat in the front row, scowling as he popped open a new can of Diet Coke. I wanted to smack him for his disrespect after realizing what this was, but if I did that, he'd turn me into a dolphin without any remorse.

Just then, one of the cleaning harpies dropped a scroll into my lap, scaring the living daylights out of me. I read the message and sighed, pocketing the scroll as I made my way down the marble steps until I reached the floor.

Chiron stood there, his lips pursed tightly together as he motioned for me to join him and the others. Noah, Connor, Travis, Cleo, Harry, and Annabeth were all standing there as well, awaiting Chiron's instructions. From the pained look that Noah and Harry wore, I felt like they knew what they were supposed to do too well, while everyone else's eyes were red and puffy from crying.

You know things are bad when not even the Stoll brothers are cracking jokes or trying to steal your wallet.

He explained to us how the shroud burning ceremony was supposed to work, and seeing that Cleo was the only remaining quest member, Chiron allowed for the young daughter of Apollo to pick the order of how the shrouds should be burnt. Cleo decided to burn her shroud first, then Luke's, and finally Thalia's.

As Harry and Cleo went to set Cleo's shroud on the altar, I asked Chiron, "Why was I called down? It's not like I'm any of their siblings."

"But you were their friends," he said sagely. "And since Thalia didn't have anyone in her cabin, I think it's fitting for her two closest friends to burn her shroud."

I internally snorted at being called one of Thalia's closest friends, but I wasn't going to disrespect her like that by refusing to burn her shroud if this is what Chiron was asking me to do. I nodded grimly and stood next to Annabeth, who was clinging onto my leg.

Harry and Cleo were fast to burn her shroud, Harry having said a few words about how proud he was of his sister before the two lowered the torch, letting the blue and gold shroud burn. Luke's was next, and Noah, Connor, and Travis told stories about how amazing Luke was at sword fighting and how good of an older brother he was. The three sons of Hermes lowering the torch together, the blue and white shroud burning right away.

Then it was our turn to walk up to the altar. Thalia's shroud had been made by the Athena cabin, meaning it was just as extravagant as you expected it to be from the children of the goddess of weaving. The shroud was made of electric blue and silver fabric, giving it the impression of being the sky whenever the fabric would move. And right on top was a golden lightning bolt as tribute to her father, Zeus.

Annabeth talked about how Thalia was practically the mother she never had despite only being twelve and constantly on the run from monsters. She spoke of the memories she made with Thalia and Luke, choking up when she started talking about her two best friends being a tree.

"I didn't know Thalia for long," I said, gently touching the shroud, as if I expected for there to be a body there, "but I know she would do anything for her friends. She fought until her last breath, a true hero until the end."

I tried to hand Annabeth the torch to burn Thalia's shroud, but she shook her head, adamantly refusing to burn her best friend's shroud when her body wasn't even there. I brought down the torch, watching in sick fascination at the speed of the fire on the fabric, smoke rising into the air moments later.

Annabeth and I walked away from the altar while I was tasked with extinguishing the torch. Chiron then told everyone that we weren't allowed to leave until the shrouds were done burning, earning some groans from some of the older campers (mostly the Ares cabin).

It took about a half hour before the shrouds finished burning, the Fates enjoying our suffering as we were forced to reminisce about our time with the fallen demigods. I didn't even blame Thalia for the way she acted around me. Love makes you do crazy things sometimes.

I left not long after that, telling Chiron that I had to get back to Olympus to inform Zeus of what had come to pass. While I'm sure he had been watching, I knew I had to report back to him, or else he'd be royally pissed off.

"Keep an eye on Annabeth and Cleo for me," I told Chiron, fidgeting with my bracelet. "They're too young for having to witness death up close."

"You act as if you aren't young either," Chiron said, choosing to walk me to the border, where Blackjack was already waiting for me. "You're only fourteen, Andy. No fourteen-year-old should have to watch their friends die in front of them."

"I've experienced things that I wouldn't wish upon my enemies, Chiron, and this is one of those times. Please, just make sure they don't do anything stupid."

"Annabeth do something stupid?" The word sounded foreign in Chiron's mouth.

"You know what I mean." I ran a hand through my messy curls, my fingers getting caught in the knots. Maybe I'd chop it off for easier maintenance. "Take care, Chiron," I said as I mounted Blackjack.

"You too."

* * *

Hermes was a complete mess when I returned to his palace. Zeus had taken the news pretty well in all honesty, but I knew how much it really hurt him by the way his eyes darkened and how tightly he'd gripped onto his throne. No one, god or not, wanted to lose a child.

I barely ducked a chair getting thrown at my head when I walked in, hearing Hermes shout, "Leave me alone, Apollo!" before something made of glass shattered.

The main living area of the palace was a war zone. Furniture was over thrown, books covered the floor, mountains of boxes and letters took up the majority of the space, and every picture frame that had been hanging on the walls were now discarded on the floor, the majority of the glass cracked beyond repair.

I found Hermes nursing a glass of whiskey in the kitchen, stirring it slowly before growing angry with it and chucking it against the wall, leaving behind an orange stain and broken glass. He then ducked down behind the counter and pulled out a dark green bottle with a label that read: _Apollo's Super Juice._ He didn't even grab a glass, chugging directly from the bottle before wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.

Deciding it was a better idea to leave the messenger god to his own vices, I found a broom and dustpan in a supply closet and went to work, cleaning up the mess Hermes had made. Thankfully for me, he hadn't really gone farther than the living room and kitchen, so it wasn't all that bad.

Trust me, I've had worse messes to clean up after at Mrs. Stetson's house, especially when the little ones thought it was a good idea to clog the toilets with toilet paper, which would cause the pipes to leak some not-so-nice things through the ceiling and the floor.

After checking in on Hermes one more time, who was passed out in his seat at the bar, I left him a note saying that I'd be at the track training. For the next couple of hours, I ran laps and jumped hurdles, switching to shot put when my legs started to burn.

An extremely drunk Hermes showed up around six, just as I was about to hit the showers. Anger burned in his eyes, and he was holding his caduceus, except it wasn't exactly his caduceus. George and Martha were glowing blue, and the wings had disappeared, turning into a sharp end like a spear but illuminated with pure energy.

 _I love laser mode,_ George said nonchalantly, slithering around like he was perfectly safe, which I guess he was.

 _Not when Hermes is drunk!_ Martha admonished. _He's going to attack that poor girl when she's done nothing wrong._

"He's mad about Luke, isn't he?" I asked the snaked, pulling out Epithymia and bracing myself for the god's attack.

 _Yup,_ George answered. _He almost had a heart attack when he saw you give Luke the potion._

 _George, gods can't have heart attacks._

 _I said_ almost.

"Enough you two," Hermes hissed at his snakes, tapping the pole to get them to shut up. He then turned to me, his blue eyes shining with unmistakable anger. "As for you, my dear Andromeda, you have much to pay for."

He lunged forward so quickly, I didn't even have chance to defend myself before being thrown back, landing roughly on my back. How the Hades was I supposed to fight the fastest Olympian? Not even Apollo, who could turn into pure sunlight and move at the speed of light, could beat Hermes in terms of speed.

As I was about to be impaled by Hermes, I remembered that I was a daughter of Kronos. Despite the promise I'd made to Harry earlier, I froze time around me, allowing for me to see where Hermes was.

After some prying, I got his caduceus out of his hands and freed George and Martha. Martha told me how to get them out of laser mode, and I promised I bring the two of them some rats for their help. As for Hermes, I sped up time for him, letting the alcohol in his system to be broken down by his liver.

Like I expected, when I resumed time, Hermes fell to his knees, clutching his head in agony. I set down his caduceus next to him, earning a look of confusion by the extremely hungover god. However, I managed to help somewhat by forcing some shadows around Hermes' face, keeping it dark enough so that the lights wouldn't exacerbate his headache.

Hermes was in such bad shape that I had to help him walk back to his palace. I set him down on the couch in the living room, turning off all the lights and returning with a large glass of water, some ibuprofen, and a wet rag. He didn't question me as I set the rag on his forehead and handed him the water and ibuprofen.

"What did I do?" he asked, his voice completely wrecked. Whatever was in Apollo's Special Juice definitely packed a punch, one that I hope I never experience.

"Drink a lot," I whispered, trying to contribute as little as possible to his hangover headache. "You're okay now."

"I-I don't remember if I trained you today. Did I?"

I shook my head no, telling him about his rampage while I trained by myself. He looked guilty about what he had done; that sadness about losing Luke had come back as well. But instead of going ballistic again, he merely sighed and asked, "Why'd you do it?"

I gave him the only answer I had. "It was the only way to save him."

Hermes didn't push any farther, lowering the rag so that it covered his eyes. I told him that I'd be in the room right next door if he needed me, which he responded with a wave of his hand. The rest of that night I was investigating within my books, taking notes about how my actions were changing the future.


	11. Chapter 11

For the next five years, I became Olympus' protégé, personal assistant, and punching bag. Not necessarily in that order.

The fourteen Olympians – including Hestia and Hades – trained me in every method of combat under the sun, and for the six eldest gods, they taught me how to use my powers. The only thing that I was forced to learn on my own was my time manipulation, and the majority of the time it was under Athena's guidance, who was determined to figure out how chronokinesis worked.

As for my missions, they usually consisted of bringing demigods who were either in danger or neglected by their mortal parent to their respective camp. Yes, the Olympians had entrusted me with the secret of the Romans, even though I already knew of its existence. But between you and me, there were way more Greek demigods than Roman.

Then there were the handful of times where all the gods were so busy that I got a few days to myself. That's when I'd catch up with Percy, who had recently been expelled from his fifth school in five years after blowing up a school bus, and hang out at camp for a bit, recounting stories with Chiron while some of the younger kids I saved clung onto my legs like iron shackles.

Salina had gone silent about two years ago, no longer sending me any messages in person or through my dreams. The same thing had happened with the Fates as they no longer sent me visions. I didn't know whether that had to do with my prolonged time on Olympus or if that had been their initial plan, but needless to say, I was extremely worried when I no longer felt those presences in my mind anymore.

Regardless of her absence, Salina continued providing me with my monthly allowance even though I no longer had use for the majority of the money. I typically ended up donating most of it to the treasuries of Camp Half-Blood and Camp Jupiter while keeping only a hundred bucks a month in the off chance I needed to go into the mortal world.

And to my joy, today was one of those days.

I'd been spending this week with Aphrodite, who had been determined to teach me how to properly apply makeup, when I saw Ganymede, Zeus' cup bearer, give the love goddess a message. She had set down the eyeshadow palate she'd been trying to get me to use, her eyebrows scrunched together in confusion as she read the scroll.

"Oh, joy," Aphrodite had muttered, snapping her fingers to change her clothing. We had gotten close enough that she didn't care about looking perfect around me, usually lounging around in old t-shirts and sweatpants in the comfort of her own home. She was now in a flowy white chiton with a simply leather belt cinched around her waist. Simple, yet she was still absolutely stunning. "A council meeting."

"Do I have to attend?" I had asked, hoping that I had, so I could get out of this makeup session. Next up was eyeliner, and I already knew I was going to poke my eye the second I saw how pointy the pencil was.

Aphrodite shook her head, reaching up behind her to pull her hair out of its messy bun. Of course, it fell around her shoulders in perfect ringlets, like she'd hired someone to do her hair for her. "Zeus specifically indicated that you are not to come," she said as she bent down to lace up her sandals.

"Does that mean I have the day off?" I asked, hope seeping into my voice. By this point in time, I hadn't had a day to myself in over six months, literally having become Hermes 2.0 and constantly running errands and messages all over the country. Thankfully, Blackjack had been up to the task every time, and I always rewarded him in the end.

Aphrodite didn't need to look at me to know that I was smiling at the prospect of going back down to the mortal world, having a chance to act my age, even if it was only for a day. "Just go already," she told me happily, gesturing a perfectly manicured hand towards the front door. "Be back by midnight, though. I'd hate to see Zeus lose his temper over your curfew."

I rolled my eyes, already halfway to the door. "Yes, _mom,"_ I replied sarcastically, giving Aphrodite one last smile as I set my sunglasses on the top of my head. "I'll be back later."

"Have fun and stay safe!" Aphrodite chirped enthusiastically before disappearing in a whirlwind of rose petals, transporting herself to the throne room for that meeting.

I made my way down the elevator to the mortal world, the security guard choking on his coffee when he saw me. His name was Reginald Brown, something I only knew after several interactions with him involving his coffee flying into his face, multiple static shocks, or vines holding him down as I reached over for the keycard he kept hidden under his computer.

"Hello, Reginald," I said innocently, giving him a wave as I walked out onto the street, hearing him cough as the door shut behind me. Let's just say he knows me well enough that I don't need to hear his whole "There is no six-hundredth floor" spiel anymore.

The wind was blowing much harsher than I had expected, my hair whipping behind me despite the fact it was pulled back into a ponytail. Newspaper and garbage tumbled across the streets, but both people and traffic were indifferent, continuing on with their day. I joined the crowd, heading for the nearby subway in the hopes of spending the rest of my day with Percy.

But Andy, if Percy's in boarding school, how are you supposed to spend the day with him?

Fear not, dear reader, I know my way around various boarding schools well enough by now. And yes, Percy Jackson was currently enrolled in Yancy Academy, forced to breathe in the same air as the dreadful Nancy Bobofit. I'd only met the girl once, purely accidental, and she was about as nice as a plague-ridden rat.

For May, the weather had been really nasty. At least, that's the word in the marketplaces, where I keep up with gossip in the mortal world. Word sure does travel fast amongst the nymphs. Apparently, there'd been a growing number of storms near Manhattan, ones that were strong enough to spawn tornadoes and inundate major roads. There'd also been an increase in the number of storms over the ocean, Hades having ranted about how people had been dying more frequently because of downed planes or drowning.

Glancing down at the watch I'd made – with the help of Hephaestus, of course – I looked at the date and knew exactly why the weather had been this gross. Plus, I knew enough about Yancy Academy. I'd been the one to recommend the school to Sally, after all.

Okay, before anyone attacks me for that decision, hear me out. Grover had already been sent to Yancy Academy two years before Percy was finally admitted, so I already knew if something weird happened, there was a satyr I trusted within the school. Plus, Hades had told me about Alecto's new post a few weeks back, ensuring that Percy would come face to face with Mrs. Dodds, exactly as Rick Riordan had recorded.

I reached Yancy Academy twenty minutes later, sighing at the overkill entrance that the school had. This wasn't a military school, yet there were still four security guards armed with rifles standing outside the brick wall that led into the commons area. Then after sitting through ten minutes of security screening – x-rays, background checks, ID verification, et cetera – I walked to the front office, where they did the exact same thing again.

Good to know that Percy, and all the other students, would be extremely safe, but honestly, this was such a pain to do every time I came to visit Percy. Next time, might as well shadow-travel in and keep my visitor's badge.

The secretary waved me over towards the faded blue couches that adorned the front office, telling me that she'd just called Percy out of class and that he'd be here shortly. I'd gotten her to be cooperative by using a little mind manipulation trick Zeus had taught me about a year ago.

Apparently, his domain of electricity even reached into the nervous system of living things. So in the same way Poseidon could control someone with their own blood, Zeus could send messages to someone's brain via electrical impulses. He was powerful enough to completely take over someone's mind entirely, but that was too much in his opinion, and he made a vow on the Styx to never go that far. However, the electrical impulses could also influence a person's thoughts as well.

Zeus told me he'd never used that power to intentionally hurt people, using it more as a way to persuade people into doing things he wanted. The only setback to this was that the person already had to have some inkling of whatever was trying to be persuaded, so it's not like he could persuade someone into running up and down the streets of New York in a chicken costume if they weren't thinking of that.

So, with that little trick in mind, I had simply asked for Percy to be released for the day, and that seemed to have worked in my favor. Percy showed up a few minutes later, a puzzled look on his face until he saw me on the couch.

"Andy!" he exclaimed, launching himself at me, giving me a bone crushing hug. I laughed at his enthusiasm, messing up his hair, much to his annoyance.

"How are you?" I asked Percy, giving him one more hug before signing him out on the clipboard on the secretary's desk. We then walked out of the office, towards the direction of the heavily fortified exit. "It's been, what, two years since I've seen you?"

"Yup," Percy replied, popping the p. "Got kicked out of two more schools and ended up in here. Other than that, nothing else has really changed."

"Really? Because it looks to me like you got taller." I broke off my conversation to show the guards my visitor badge and Percy's school ID, allowing for us to leave the campus without a problem.

"Well, duh. I'd be embarrassed if I was still four-nine in sixth grade!"

I laughed at that, his concern over his height being one of his biggest worries for as long as I remembered. I wanted to tell him that he'd end up being six-two by the time he was sixteen, but I figured this still gave me time to tease him about it.

"So, now that you're free from prison," I started, staring at Percy as I noticed something had changed, "what do you want to do?"

"Can we visit Mom?" he asked, his sea green eyes lighting up in pure joy. "Please?" Percy went so far as to make a pouty lip and his puppy dog eyes, acting more like he was eight rather than twelve.

I paused like I had to think about it, causing him to grab my arms and shake them back and forth as he asked, "Please, please, please?" dragging out the last syllable much longer than I would've liked.

"Of course," I finally told him, earning an elated cheer from the young boy as we walked to the subway that I'd gotten off at a little earlier. We were on the train for a good fifteen or twenty minutes, Percy speaking animatedly about Grover and Mr. Brunner and complaining about his upcoming field trip to a history museum.

Good, so that means he hasn't learned the truth yet. When Percy wasn't facing me, I realized that I was watching him with a mixture of concern and sadness. These next few days would be the last of his normal life before he got flung headfirst into the craziness and chaos that is the godly world. Speaking of which, I had something of Percy's that had been entrusted into my care a long time ago.

I was broken out of my thoughts when Percy asked, "Why are you looking at me like that?"

I blinked. "Like what?" I asked, starting to fiddle with my bracelet.

"Like something bad is going to happen? Here I am talking about myself, but I haven't heard anything about you, Andy." Percy turned in his seat to face me, his sea green eyes burning into my own. If it wasn't for the fact that I'd grown accustomed to that look from Poseidon, I would've flinched at the intensity of this twelve-year-old's gaze. "Where have you been the past two years?"

"I've been studying abroad," I quickly lied, thanking Hermes for all those lessons he'd given me over the years. "Spent my last four semesters in Greece and now, I think I'm going to finish college here in New York."

Percy held my gaze for three more seconds before breaking out into a smile. "That's so cool! Tell me about Greece."

At this point, I was practically spewing out information I'd read from a textbook Athena assigned me, making sure to make it seem like I had been there in person. I told Percy about the Greek islands and how beautiful the Mediterranean Sea was, his eyes lighting up at the end. Guess his love of the sea hadn't died down over the years.

"I'd love to visit Greece," Percy said wistfully, standing up as the garbled voice of the computer announced that we were at our stop. "But we don't have the money for that."

"You'll visit Greece someday," I promised him, inwardly wincing at the circumstances that would result in that wish being fulfilled. Okay, Gaea could wait for the time being. I was more concerned about Kronos at the moment.

We reached Percy's apartment a couple minutes later, Percy clinging onto my back like a koala the whole time. Basically, after we'd gotten onto the sidewalk outside the subway, he yelled, "Piggyback ride!" and hopped on, almost sending the both of us tumbling down the stairs. He laughed as my motherly side came out and admonished him for that, but whatever anger I had melted away the moment Percy said, "You know you love me," ending his statement by ruffling my hair.

With the way the wind was blowing, I figured my hair couldn't possibly be any messier, so I sighed and adjusted Percy's legs around my waist so that his heels weren't painfully digging into my hips, allowing him to stay on my back as we went into the elevator of his apartment building.

We normally would've taken the stairs – they only lived on the fourth floor, after all – but if I had, Percy would've asked me to carry him. While I could've easily done this, I had hurt myself doing gymnastics with Artemis last week, pulling a muscle in my lower back. Apparently, I'd messed up my back so badly that the best Apollo could do for me is untwist the muscles so they could heal properly and give me as much ambrosia as I could consume without spontaneously combusting.

Thankfully, the water in the showers I took seemed to help as well, but I'd been warned to take it easy for what felt like the umpteenth time by Apollo. Anytime I'd walk into his infirmary, he'd shake his head knowingly and say, "What'd you do this time?" before treating me for whatever mess I'd gotten myself into.

Percy bent down to the little potted plant that was outside the door and grabbed the key that had been taped to the bottom. He unlocked the door and put they key back in its place before walking in and yelling, "Mom, I'm home!" at the top of his lungs.

"Percy?" Sally asked in confusion, peeking her head from around the corner. She then noticed that I was standing behind Percy, answering how her son had managed to leave Yancy without receiving any notification.

In my opinion, watching the two of them hug was one of the purest acts of love I'd ever witnessed in my life. Sally and Percy would do everything for each other, sacrificing the world if it meant that the two of them would stay together.

Watching them was kind of bittersweet, though, because I was reminded of the fact that I never had that type of maternal love. Mrs. Stetson did the best that she could when it came to raising me, but there was only so much attention she could give me when there were twenty-nine other girls that she was in charge of. Even growing up, the most motherly thing I remember Mrs. Stetson doing was rocking me back and forth in her lap as she read me _Charlotte's Web._

Even my time with Salina seemed to fall short of what I thought a mother should act like. Don't get me wrong, I loved and cared for Salina with all my heart, but sometimes it'd be nice to talk to someone about my day who wasn't the god or goddess in charge of my training that week.

And it's not like I could go visit my few friends whenever I wanted. Ever since I turned fifteen, a year after coming to Olympus, Zeus kept me on a tight leash, watching over my every move and expecting weekly reports from me and whoever I'd spent the week with.

For example, a day off like this would have him set on edge until my feet were back on Olympus. But I knew I wasn't being watched today because of that council meeting, which would preoccupy Zeus too much to be paying me close attention.

"Hi, Andy," Sally greeted me warmly, smoothing out the wrinkles in the periwinkle bathrobe she was wearing. "Excuse my appearance, I wasn't expecting anyone today."

"Sorry about the sudden visit," I apologized, redoing my ponytail in the hopes of taming my frizz. "I got an unexpected day off. You know how it is."

Sally nodded before telling Percy that she had made blue cookies yesterday. She hadn't even told him where in the kitchen they were before he bolted, returning a few seconds later with a cookie dangling from his mouth and a plate in his hands.

"Want one?" Percy asked with his mouthful, earning him a, "Percy Jackson, don't speak with food in your mouth," from his mother.

"I'd love one," I giggled, picking one up and sighing in joy as I took a bite. "Sally, you must give me this recipe. This is better than-" I caught myself before I could say anything else, realizing that I had almost said ambrosia by mistake.

Of course, Percy chose today to be detail sensitive and asked, "Better than what? Because I agree one hundred percent." The way he said it so seriously brought a smile to my face, but it wasn't enough to make the slight fear that I was feeling disappear.

"These cookies are better than shawarma," I said, cursing myself for my choice of words. I mean, at least that was a Greek dish, which would match up with my story about studying in Greece for the past two years. But honestly, I blurted out shawarma, because I'd been thinking about the Iron Man poster I'd seen plastered against a building on our way here.

Percy seemed satisfied by my answer, stuffing another cookie into his mouth.

Sally then inhaled sharply, causing for Percy and me to look at her in confusion. "Percy," she said cautiously, "where's your necklace?"

Glancing at Percy's neck, I noticed that the chain Sally had kept my charms on was no longer on Percy. I knew something had been out of place when I first picked him up, but I hadn't noticed the missing necklace until now.

I felt myself pale. How long had he gone without the necklace? I mean, his scent wouldn't be as powerful until he realized the truth, but without Smelly Gabe's pungent odor, it was only a matter of time until a monster showed up at their doorstep.

"Back at school," Percy answered sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck. "Some kids were making fun of me, so I took it off."

"When?" Sally demanded, clearly frightening Percy. "When did you take it off?"

"A month ago." He looked between our expressions and frowned, setting down the cookie that was in his hand back onto the plate. "Why does that matter?"

 _"_ _Di immortales,"_ I swore, standing up abruptly. "Where did you leave the necklace, Percy? Be as specific as possible."

"Why do you guys care so much about a dumb necklace?" Percy continued pressing on, but at Sally's insistence, he told me that it was inside his sock drawer back at Yancy Academy.

I asked to excuse myself to the bathroom, leaving behind a very confused and distraught Percy. The moment I locked the door behind me, I faded into the shadows, reappearing in Percy's dorm room, which caused for someone to yelp in fright.

I whirled around, expecting some mortal to be in the room, but sighed in relief when I recognized that it was only Grover. Of course, the curious satyr attacked me with a barrage of questions that I quickly answered as I opened all of Percy's drawers until I finally found the one containing his socks. I pushed the socks around until my fingers closed around the silver chain, the cloud and star charms dangling directly in the center of them.

"Keep Percy safe, and don't tell him about this," I told Grover as I melted into the shadows again, reappearing back in the Jackson's bathroom. I stumbled a bit from the two consecutive jumps, feeling slightly light headed. Thankfully, that hadn't been as draining as shadow-traveling usually is since I was relatively close to Yancy.

I splashed some water against my face and walked back out into the living room, where Sally was lecturing Percy on why he shouldn't care about what other people were saying about him. He looked uncomfortable to say the least, but he didn't speak up against his mother, allowing her to rant without interruption.

Sally stopped when she saw me and the necklace dangling from my hand. "How'd you get that?" Percy asked, sounding horrified at the prospect of my having gone into his dorm room to retrieve what appeared to be a simple necklace.

"Magic," I shrugged, which to be fair was technically the truth. I held up a hand, preventing Percy from asking anything else about what I'd done. Handing him the necklace, I told him to put it back on, telling him that he shouldn't ever take it off ever again.

"Why?" he asked as Sally helped him clasp it around his neck. "It's just a necklace."

"Because it belonged to my parents," Sally lied, genuinely sounding sad at bringing them up. "My parents gave each other those charms to show how much they loved each other, and once you were born, I gave them to you to show how much I love you. Please, don't take off the necklace," she finished, her eyes wet with unshed tears.

"Okay," Percy said, glancing at the charms reverently. "I won't do it again, Mom. I'm sorry."

Sally enveloped Percy in another hug, whispering "I love you" over and over again while he did the same. When they finally pulled apart, I told them that I had one other thing that I needed to give Percy.

This time they were both confused, as I hadn't mentioned what I was about to do to either one of them. I had asked Poseidon a while ago about how I should approach giving Percy Riptide, and all he said was, "When the time is right, you will know." Maybe Poseidon should be the god of prophecy instead of Apollo.

I reached into my pocket – I hadn't been wearing my bag when I picked up Percy, and I wasn't going to have him start questioning me about that right now – and pulled out the blue ballpoint pen.

"It's a pen," Percy deadpanned, unimpressed about all the tension I'd caused over it.

"It's a gift," I corrected him, handing him the pen. "Use it wisely, Percy, and be careful not to hurt anyone with it."

"This is a pen!"

"If you have any questions about it, Mr. Brunner will know how to answer them."

"Come on, Andy," he scoffed. "I think I know how to use a pen at this point in my life."

"Not this one," I said with a shake of my head. "This is a gift from your father."

Sally gasped and stumbled back, bumping into the wall in shock. Percy, on the other hand, looked up from the pen so quickly I thought he was going to give himself whiplash. All of a sudden, he was holding Riptide like it was made of glass, setting it down onto the coffee table gingerly.

"My father told you to give me a pen?" Percy asked, growing increasingly angry. "He disappears for twelve years and all he has to show is a stupid pen?!"

"Percy, your father was a busy man, even when we dated," Sally said, trying to mollify her son's anger.

"But he had enough time to tell Andy to give me this dumb pen!"

"If it makes you feel any better, he told me to take care of it long before I ever met you. I didn't even know he was your dad until I met you."

"Is that supposed to make me feel better?"

"Alright," I muttered under my breath. "This clearly wasn't the right time."

"What's _that_ supposed to mean?" Percy demanded, his eyes glowing in anger.

"We'll have this conversation again, I promise, but at a later date."

I waved a hand over Sally and Percy, the both of them glowing gold as my time bands, as I liked to call them, appeared around my wrists and surrounded the two in the form of gold ribbons. While frozen, I picked up Riptide and stashed it away in my pocket again. Then, I moved my hand in a counterclockwise circle, reversing the conversation to the point before I had mentioned that I had something else to give Percy.

When the time bonds broke, the two were back to hugging, completely unaware of the fight that had been brewing between the three of us moments earlier. We spent the next few hours cooking with Sally, listening to her speak about the novel she was working on while we answered her questions about how we were doing.

Percy and I headed out a quarter past five after Sally reminded me that I needed to get her son back to school. He'd groaned at being reminded of that gods awful place, but Sally placated him by sending him back with a container full of freshly baked cookies that we had made that afternoon.

After dropping Percy back at Yancy, I shadow-traveled into the school, making sure that my visitor's badge was pinned on my chest. While all students had to be back on campus by six, visitors were allowed until nine, so no one batted an eye in my direction as I followed the directories on the walls to "Mr. Brunner's" classroom.

I swear, Chiron nearly had a coronary when I walked in, dropping the stack of papers that he'd been holding moments earlier. I shut the door, locking it behind me to make sure that none of the students could come in or overhear what I was about to ask of Chiron.

"Andy," Chiron said, overcoming his stupor as he began organizing his papers once more. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"I need some help," I said, setting Anaklusmos right in front of Chiron for him to see. "This is to end up in the hands of Percy Jackson when the time is right. I majorly screwed that up today, but I have a feeling the reception will go better from you."

Recognition flashed over Chiron's face as he picked up the pen, treating it as if it was made of dynamite. He nodded in agreement, placing Riptide into the front pocket of his tweed jacket that he wore as a part of his teacher's disguise.

"Will you be visiting camp anytime soon?" he asked, finally looking up from his papers. "Trust me, it's much better to receive those beads along with others."

I gritted my teeth, reaching up to touch the leather string with five clay beads that were strung around my neck. I'd only been at camp as a camper for four days before living on Olympus for the past five years, destroying any chance of being able to make other demigod friends other than the ones I'd met prior to my extensive training.

Hestia had been the only one to voice this concern to the Olympians, saying that by doing this to me they were robbing me of my childhood, to which they all turned a blind eye. The next time I'd visited Hestia, she was so upset that from her hearth, she gave me a leather necklace with the first bead I'd ever receive – Thalia and Luke's pine tree.

Over the past couple years, I got four more beads: a Centaur in a prom dress, a Greek trireme on fire, silver arrows sticking out of a helmet, and a skolopendra washed up on the shore of Long Island Sound.

"I can't, and you know that," I said, bringing my hand back to my side. "Please, watch out for Percy for me. Things are very tense on Olympus right now. Heck, I probably shouldn't even be here at the moment."

"Is it something major?" Chiron asked, setting aside his grading to give me his full attention.

"I'm afraid so. All I know is that Zeus and Poseidon are angry." I sighed in frustration. "No one will tell me what's going on, but something's definitely wrong."

"I see. Stay safe up there, will you? I don't want you to get caught in a fight between the gods, especially since they've all taken time to train you. The last thing you want to seem is ungrateful."

"I know. I promise, I'll visit the next time I have a day off." And with that, I stepped into the shadows, reappearing in Aphrodite's palace as the clock struck seven.

 _ANDROMEDA!_ I heard Zeus shout in my mind, his voice so jolting I fell to my knees and clutched my head. _COME TO THE THRONE ROOM IMMEDIATELY._

"As you wish," I muttered under my breath, once again allowing myself to step into the shadows for the fourth time that day, mentally preparing myself for the shouting match I was about to go into.


	12. Chapter 12

I knew things were bad by the way Zeus was scowling down at me. We weren't exactly the closest, but he respected me enough to not scowl at me every time I was in his presence.

Standing in front of the Olympian Council was by far one of the scariest things I ever had to do in my life. It doesn't matter how many times I've done it, I always feel like I'm going to be sick from the amount of power overload that is the throne room when full of its inhabitants.

From the way some of the gods were seated at the edge of their thrones, their bodies tense as if expecting an attack, I could tell the pressure in the room had been extremely high before my appearance. To my left, Poseidon was gripping his trident so tightly I thought the bronze pole would snap in half. Sitting next to Poseidon, Zeus glowered at his older brother, sparks leaping in between his fingers.

Then I realized that the throne room was missing a familiar hum that always came from Zeus. As I expected, when I looked at the holster on Zeus' throne that was supposed to hold his symbol of power, it was empty, devoid of the Master Bolt.

"Oh, gods," I said, paling at what I was seeing. It's one thing to read about the Master Bolt being stolen, but witnessing it yourself, especially when you had become used to its presence, was terrifying. Luke was definitely crazy if he thought he could get away with stealing from Zeus and Hades and not get caught.

"Indeed," Zeus spoke angrily, never breaking his glare with Poseidon. "It seems as if _someone_ has decided to steal my Master Bolt."

"Why do you look at me, _brother?"_ Poseidon spat out the word venomously. "Stealing a god's symbol of power is prohibited by the most ancient of laws."

"Come on, Dad," Apollo said, pulling out his headphones. "It's not like Uncle P to steal."

"He tried to usurp me before!"

"So did your wife," Athena pointed out, never looking up from the book she was reading.

"As if you're so innocent," Hera hissed, her knuckles white as she gripped the edge of her throne, fully prepared to launch herself at the wisdom goddess.

"Who would Poseidon even turn to?" Demeter pointed out through a mouthful of cereal, earning her some looks of disgust from some of the gods. "It's not like he's broken that oath of yours."

Poseidon did an excellent job of masking his fear, not even moving a muscle at being unknowingly called out. However, Demeter's accusation only made the situation worse, as now Zeus was debating smiting the entirety of Camp Half-Blood, earning himself death threats from every Olympian that had kids living at camp.

I waited out this argument next to Hestia, feeling safer beside the hearth than by gods who were struggling to keep their divine forms in control. Honestly, if they're going to play the blame game, I didn't want to be here to listen to them argue like children.

"Let's ask Andromeda what she thinks," Hera said at last, silencing the roar of voices that had started to give me a headache. "What do you make of this situation?"

"Hear me out before jumping to conclusions," I asked, making sure that the two main dissidents in this case understood what I was asking of them. "I don't think Lord Poseidon stole the Master Bolt or had someone do it to usurp your throne, Lord Zeus. In my honest opinion, I believe whoever stole the bolt did it in the hopes that you two would tear each other apart."

"Why would anyone do such a thing?" a horrified Aphrodite asked, fanning herself with her hand. "There's no tragic love story anywhere in this scenario, so it's not a real war!" Although the love goddess wasn't an airhead like many people made her out to be, she'd say stuff like this that made it much harder to defend her.

"To cause chaos," I continued. "Think about it. Who would stand to gain from Lord Zeus and Lord Poseidon going to war with each other?"

The throne room was shockingly silent, only the crackling of the hearth indicating that I hadn't accidently froze everyone where they sat. At last, Ares looked up from sharpening his nails with a knife and said, "Are you all really that dense? It's Hades!"

I felt all the blood drain from my face.

"How's that possible?" Hermes demanded. "He's only ever here on the winter solstice, and we were watching him the whole time. He was never left alone with the Master Bolt at any time."

"Why don't you ask Hades yourselves?" I suggested, earning many weird looks from the Olympians. It saddened me that the mere thought of having Hades on Olympus any day that wasn't the winter solstice seemed absurd to them.

"No, there is a reason he is only permitted on Olympus during the winter solstice," Zeus thundered. "We will not bring him into this. Not when it's so clear that you've done this, Poseidon."

"Why you little-!" The sudden appearance of vines around Poseidon's chest was the only thing keeping him lunging forward to attack his younger brother.

Poseidon turned to glare at me, but I held up my hands in surrender. I hadn't been the one to restrain him, because I wasn't suicidal. You could earn the respect of all the gods, but the moment you became a threat to them, they wouldn't hesitate to kill you where you stood.

"Leave Angelina alone," Dionysus yawned, closing his fist tighter, forcing the vines to press Poseidon against the back of his throne, giving him no wiggle room. "She would never do such a thing."

The rest of the gods stared at Dionysus like he'd grown a second head. The wine god's hatred of heroes was no secret to anyone, so to see him defend me was a sight to behold. When he had trained me, it had been deep in the forest of Camp Half-Blood with the one rule that I was prohibited from interacting with any camper. While we touched on vine growing, he really focused on teaching me how to destroy an enemy from the inside out. Having the domain of insanity was seriously powerful, even if it appeared that the laziest god wielded it.

"Can't you just send a quest to get the bolt back?" Hephaestus grunted, wiping a grimy hand across his face, leaving behind a streak of oil. "Or get Andy to do it."

"The Master Bolt shall not be touched by mortal hands!" Zeus declared, glowering down at me as I ducked behind Hestia. Not my proudest moment.

"What do you propose then?" Artemis asked. "That we blow up the entire world in search of the Master Bolt?"

"No, that's ridiculous. But all of you _will_ search for my bolt. And as for you, Poseidon," Zeus cut himself off, leaning dangerously close to his restrained brother's face, "You better hope that I get it back, or else there will be war."

Zeus didn't give anyone a chance to react as his declaration before flashing out, leaving the entire throne room in uproar. Dionysus finally released Poseidon of his restraints, making the sea god more pissed off than he already was.

I watched as the gods stood up, still in their godly height of fifteen feet, and began shouting at each other, shoving each other around, yelling about who they thought was right. Athena and Hera were the most outspoken against Poseidon, while Ares, Hermes, and Apollo were quick to accuse Zeus of being paranoid.

Meanwhile I stood next to Hestia, my hands clapped tightly over ears. All this screaming couldn't possibly be good for my hearing, not when I felt like I was standing next to a speaker that was full volume at a death metal concert.

Hestia took pity on me and handed me some cooled wax from the edge of her hearth. Where'd it come from, I didn't know, but I quickly shaped them into ear plugs and thanked her when they helped make the screaming a little more bearable.

I was about to leave the throne room for my own safety when all of a sudden I felt as if someone had slammed a crowbar into my temples. I didn't even have enough time to say "Ow" before my knees buckled and fell face forward towards the ground.

* * *

I was standing on top of a creaky wooden plank that was precariously positioned over the mouth of a large black hole. Suddenly, I was grateful for all those gymnastics classes Artemis had forced me to take, allowing me to keep my balance even though the wood felt like it was going to break under my weight if I tried to take a step.

I tried to shadow-travel out of there, but as soon as a shadow touched my skin, it burned, leaving the flesh there blistering and red. I couldn't light a fire, either, the darkness consuming the light the second that it was produced. There was no water for me to try to manipulate or mist-travel, and forget about any sort of plants. I could try to fly, but with the way the pit was pulling at me, I figured you'd have a better chance of getting a lead bowling ball in the air. And I couldn't really control time to help me in my favor either, leaving me trapped overlooking this pit.

Tartarus, I thought darkly as a sharp gust of wind blew by, almost knocking me over. I went down into a crouch, giving me a better center of gravity as well as decreasing the likelihood of getting pushed around by the wind.

"We meet again, daughter," Kronos said, amusement clear in his voice even though he sounded like a sword getting dragged across jagged rocks. "Such a shame it had to be under these circumstances."

"It was you!" I accused, my fingers digging into the wood as another gust of wind caused the wooden plank to swing from side to side. "You sent someone to get the Master Bolt to get the Olympians to ruin themselves from the inside out!"

Kronos' laugh was worse than his normal speaking voice. When he laughed, the entire cavern rumbled, dust and rocks falling from above. If his voice alone was that powerful, I never wanted to confront him face to face.

"You truly are a child of mine, Andromeda. No other child would think so far ahead. They would think of only the short term effects of their actions, not the big picture like you."

"So, who is the poor child you corrupted?" I asked, trying to take a step in the direction towards the edge of the pit, where I figured this wooden plank had to start.

"I didn't need to corrupt anyone," Kronos said smugly, chuckling as I swore under my breath as a large crack appeared in the wood underneath my feet. "All I needed was to confirm their beliefs about those traitorous gods. The rest was simple."

"You're sick."

"Thank you, darling."

Oh, gag me with a spoon. Someone hand me the brain bleach.

That's it, I'm banning the word darling from my vocabulary for the rest of my life.

"I will never help you, if that's why you brought me here," I said with more confidence than I felt, the crack underneath my feet growing bigger with every passing second. "You'd have a better chance of discovering life on Mercury."

"We'll see about that," Kronos crooned, and the wood finally broke, sending me falling into the most terrifying place in all the known world. I screamed my head off, flailing like an injured bird as the darkness zoomed past me, the voices of damned souls telling me that I was fated to die down there.

And the scariest part is that I believed them.

* * *

When I finally came to, I sat up with a jolt, flinching violently as I realized that I was still in the throne room, the remaining gods watching me in a mixture of curiosity and concern. Mainly concern.

And then I was crying, openly sobbing in front of the Olympians as I wrapped my arms around my chest, trying to convince myself that I was safe. Kronos was still in Tartarus, the exact opposite of where Olympus was located, meaning I was as far as humanly possible from my father.

Apollo, who now appeared to be in his mid-thirties, was the first one to intervene. He sat down next to me and pulled me close, running a hand through my hair while I sobbed into his chest. Even in the few seconds I experienced falling into Tartarus, I saw the pit for what it really was, the way Nico would see it when Gaea's forces would capture him.

Let's just leave it as Tartarus is the most horrific thing that Chaos could have ever created.

How was anyone who fell in there supposed to survive with their sanity intact? I suddenly had newfound respect for Nico, Percy, and Annabeth as they'd been strong enough to make it out of Tartarus and still keep going on with their lives.

"You're okay," Apollo whispered softly, not saying anything as I grabbed fistfuls of his shirt, assuring myself that I wasn't falling to my death. "You're okay."

It took me a while before I could regain my composure, and when I did, I was embarrassed to say the least. To make matters worse, none of the gods had left while I had my panic attack, watching me with pitiful expressions.

I vehemently wiped the wetness off my face with the back of my hand, refusing to show weakness longer than I already had. Even when I seriously hurt myself in training, I never cried because of the pain. In a real fight, you don't have time for that type of reaction if you want to make it out alive.

Honestly, the last time I really cried was the day that I watched Luke and Thalia turn into a pine tree, the guilt having eaten me up inside. I still feel guilty about their fates even today, but I knew that by next year, they'd be alive and kicking one more time.

Still, this was the first time that I could remember that the Olympians had caught me breakdown and cry like that. My face was positively burning, and if I were to look in a mirror, I knew I could beat out the shade of Demeter's prized apples any day of the week.

Once Apollo figured that I was stable enough to be on my own, he pulled away reverting back to his eighteen-year-old body and standing next to Artemis, who was staring at Apollo like he had told her to go lick a smelly boot. I guess she hadn't been expecting him to act so maturely, probably thinking that he would record my breakdown and post it on Hephaestus-Tube (H-Tube for short).

"I'm good," I said once I'd caught my breath, my chest hurting from how intense that cry had been. "I think I'll be fine."

"What happened?" Athena asked, a pen and notepad in her hand as her gray eyes looked at me like a specimen under a microscope.

"Father hijacked my mind," I replied with a scowl, glaring at the floor. "Asked me to join him, and when I said no, he…"

The gods all looked at each other, their faces ashen. Aphrodite looked like she was about to faint. Even Dionysus seemed concerned, holding a stick adorned with a pinecone in his hand. I thought that was something Bacchus had, but I wasn't going to start the whole Greco-Roman schism at the moment, so I kept my mouth shut.

"Is he still in there?" Hermes asked cautiously, obviously trying not to push me too far, something which I thought was really sweet.

"Alive and kicking," I confirmed. "And he's really angry, too. He wants Olympus burned to the ground."

"But what did he do to you?" Hera questioned. "He didn't hurt you, did he?"

I shook my head, my hands instinctively balling into fists at my sides. As my nails bit into my palms, the pain helped me focus on the task at hand and not my feeling of helplessness. "I was on this fragile wooden plank," I began, shutting my eyes, the scenery becoming crystal clear. "He told me that he was proud to be my father, that I was just like him, but when I refused to help him, he pushed me off the plank with a gust of wind. I fell into Tartarus and saw unspeakable things, and this was the upmost layer, right where the entrance located near the Underworld is."

Cue the collective gasps of horror. No one, god or not, ever wanted to find themselves within the pit.

"Did you see anything?" Apollo asked, earning him a whack to the back of the head, courtesy of none other than Artemis. "Hey, it's a valid question!"

I nodded my head and bit my lip, not really wanting to elaborate what I'd seen. Honestly, with the way that Annabeth and Percy had described Tartarus, I expected to see webbing that could pass off as veins, noxious red clouds, the five rivers of the Underworld flowing down the jagged landscape as the aimlessly made their way down to the heart of the pit. Instead, I saw horrors that made the Fields of Punishment look like an amusement park.

"No more of that," Hera said in an almost motherly tone, shooting a scathing glare at Athena and Apollo, who were about to ask me more questions. "Leave Andromeda alone. If she wishes to speak, she'll do so when she is ready."

"Thank you, Lady Hera," I said, wincing as I felt the taste of blood fill my mouth. Guess I bit my lip too hard.

That seemed to end the conversation once and for all as the gods began leaving the throne room, only leaving Aphrodite behind as she gave me a look of pity. I didn't acknowledge her pity, or anyone else's for that matter, as we walked back to her palace, the two of us having decided it was a nice night to walk through Olympus.

When we arrived at her palace, Aphrodite sighed and snapped her fingers, a pink nightgown replacing her dress as well as removing all her makeup and leaving her hair pulled back into a messy ponytail. For some reason, Aphrodite's appearance didn't change for me, and I didn't know why.

To me, she was an exact replica of Salina, the only difference being that Aphrodite had kaleidoscope eyes while Salina's were as blue as the Mediterranean Sea. Aphrodite didn't seem to know or care about my situation, so I kept my mouth shut, not wanting to insult the highly temperamental goddess.

After what had happened in the throne room, I was fully prepared for Aphrodite to have Ares over tonight (they usually met up after council meetings), but she shook her head and directed me back to the vanity I'd been sitting at this morning, telling me that our day wasn't done until I could flawlessly apply eyeshadow.

I was so mentally and physically exhausted that I didn't protest, silently picking up the color palate Aphrodite had picked out for me and following her instructions. She seemed happy enough after my tenth attempt, clapping her hands together in delight before handing me another makeup wipe to add to my ever growing pile.

"What are we doing tomorrow?" I asked, wiping gently at my eyes, having learned the hard way that if the liquid within the wipes got in your eyes, it tended to burn as badly as if you used tabasco sauce as eye drops. Okay, maybe I was exaggerating, but it still stung.

"We aren't going to do anything," Aphrodite said while putting away all the makeup she had planned for us to use today. "Before you were summoned to the council, we decided that you're going to go back to Camp Half-Blood for the time being, at least until this whole Master Bolt situation is solved."

"Really?" I stopped wiping my eyes to look at Aphrodite. "I'll get to spend the summer at camp?"

"First we've got to deal with this possible war, but there is a very good chance you may be able to spend the entire summer at camp. Gods knows that you've earned a break."

"Before I leave, do you mind if I go ask Lord Hephaestus something first?"

Aphrodite winced at the mention of her husband but gave me her silent approval anyways, telling me that my midnight curfew still stood. It was only nine, so I wasn't too worried about my curfew, calmly walking the half mile that would take me to Hephaestus' palace.

The god of the forges usually resided elsewhere, never feeling that content on Olympus, especially since he is the only major god who was severely disabled. He liked spending time at his forges, forgoing ambrosia and nectar for crazy amounts of time when he was deeply invested in one of his projects. It wasn't uncommon for me to remind Hephaestus that he needed to eat when the two of us worked in the forge together, to which I usually would get a grunt that meant, "Later."

But I knew he was inside his palace from the amount of smoke billowing out of the four chimneys he had protruding from the ceiling, reminding me a bit of how Willy Wonka's factory from _Charlie and the Chocolate Factory_ looked in terms of the silhouette.

I used the large brass knocker on the door, waiting for a few seconds before one of Hephaestus' many automatons opened the door, leading me straight to the god himself. Unsurprisingly, he was hunched over one of his many workbenches, scowling to himself as he compared the metal in his hands to the blueprints he'd sketched out.

Behind him, the forges were fully burning, the heat so intense that I was already starting to sweat. The room itself was brightly illuminated with LED lighting, contrary to popular belief that said Hephaestus worked better in the dark. Off in the far corner was my own workbench, where Hephaestus would let me work on projects that interested me, giving me constructive criticism whenever he thought it was needed.

The automaton who had led me in stood at attention besides Hephaestus, grabbing the god's attention. He looked up, his dark brown eyes giving off a calculating glint as he set down his project onto his table, wiping the oil on his hands off on his apron that had his name embroidered across the middle.

"What are you doing here, young one?" Hephaestus asked, his booming voice echoing around the room. "It hasn't been three days already, has it?"

"No, my lord," I replied, smiling at his latter question. Sometimes he'd get so consumed by a project he lost track of the days.

One time after my week with Aphrodite, I came to Hephaestus, only to learn that he had gone over three weeks without sleeping or eating as he tried to build a butler automaton. Now, while gods don't need to eat or sleep like mortals or demigods, they were considerably weaker if they forwent such basic necessities.

"All I came for was to ask permission to visit a child of yours."

"And why would you ask me for this?" Hephaestus said, scratching his chin, which set his beard on fire. I'd grown immune to Hephaestus' appearance, so I wasn't too concerned about his beard catching fire.

"He doesn't know he's a demigod yet," I explained. "But I know he's in a rough place right now, and I want to be his friend."

"Is that all?"

"Were you expecting something else, my lord?"

Hephaestus gave me a lopsided grin, flashing his stained and crooked teeth at me. I smiled back, even though I was deeply disturbed by his smile as this was the first time I'd ever witnessed it. "You continue to surprise me, girl, so I shall give you permission to visit my unclaimed son. Just promise me one thing."

"Anything, my lord."

"If you happen to run into any monsters, keep him safe."

"Absolutely." I felt my smile widen, the muscles in my face starting to hurt from prolonged use. "Thank you."

Hephaestus made a shooing motion, letting me know that I was overstaying my welcome. I followed the same automaton back to the front door, trying to suppress a really stupid amount of laughter at the prospect of meeting one of my favorite people of all time.

Guess who's going to meet Leo Valdez tomorrow!


	13. Chapter 13

According to Aphrodite, I had to be gone by noon and have Chiron send them a report that I had made it to camp. A little overkill if you ask me, but I promised her that I'd get that done. Before I left, however, I stopped by Athena's library and pulled out one of her many enchanted maps from storage.

"Leo Valdez," I told the parchment, smiling giddily to myself as the map shimmered and revealed a red dot located somewhere near Houston, Texas. Great, so I'd head out to Texas after checking in with Chiron, but I still pocketed the map on the off chance that Leo moved away from Houston in the next few hours.

My sendoff was extremely anticlimactic as Aphrodite had pushed me out of her palace and I made my way to the elevator by myself. However, Reginald seemed much more relaxed about my sudden appearance, glancing at me briefly before returning to his computer, which I thought was real progress in our relationship.

Gods, I need some friends.

My check in at camp went rather smoothly, and after confirming via Iris-message that I was physically standing next to Chiron in the Big House, I was allowed to leave. Of course, I was postponed after a couple of the kids I saved went ahead and latched themselves onto me like leeches, refusing to let go until I gave them hugs and told them stories about their parents.

"Didn't know you were so popular," Cleo said sarcastically, nudging my shoulder to get my attention.

"Neither did I," I laughed, pulling her in for a hug.

She was thirteen now, but she acted so much older, especially since she was now the director of the infirmary. I thought it was a stressful post to have at the tender age of thirteen, but Cleo didn't seem to mind, content to spend her days suturing wounds and setting broken bones.

We caught up for a little bit before I told her I had made plans for the day. Cleo had asked when I'd be coming back, which I happily replied that I should be back later tonight or early tomorrow depending on how my plans went today. She had been pleasantly surprised by the information, as the last time the two of us had seen each other two days in a row had been five years ago.

Before the word could really spread around about my presence, I tried to mist-travel to Houston, feeling a little bit of pride when I felt myself dissolve into water vapor. The hard part was forcing all the vapor particles back into a solid state, but this form of traveling drained me a whole lot less than shadow-traveling did.

I wandered around Houston, feeling right at home in another concrete jungle packed with people and skyscrapers. The only thing I really hated was the unbearable heat and humidity, having the need to pull my hair into a high ponytail so that it was off my neck while also going to change into a tank top in a gas station bathroom.

Every couple of blocks, I'd pull out my map, and seeing that I was much closer to Leo's location, the map showed blocks and street names now instead of a single dot in one of the biggest states in the country.

I finally took a right on Cyprus Edge Drive and looked up, frowning at the plaza I'd been brought to. The map must've made some sort of mistake, but sure enough, there was that stubborn dot fixated at my location, telling me that Leo was here.

I looked up, only to almost be run over seconds later by a little boy clutching a plastic bag to his chest while two cops weren't far behind, yelling, "Come back here, kid!" while waving around their batons uselessly.

All it had taken was a glimpse of the boy's unruly brown curls for me to understand the situation, and as the cops almost caught up to the boy, a root from a nearby tree tripped the both of them, sending them sprawling against the sidewalk. Other people walked around the cops without sparing them a second glance, too invested in their own conversations or phones to pay attention to the chase scene that had been unfolding in front of them.

In the midst of all the confusion, I had enough time to run after the boy myself, expertly dodging around other shoppers without too much damage. Although, I don't think the owner of the coffee shop was too happy to see a nineteen-year-old girl dash across empty tables and benches like some kind of parkour junkie.

The boy took a hard left, throwing the door to the Sears open before running in. I ran in after him, careful to slow down before he could see me, giving me the impression of being another shopper perusing Sears' fine collection of lawn mowers.

I found the boy down in the hardware section, breathing heavily as he pushed his damp curls out of his face, still clutching to a plastic bag with the Home Depot logo plastered onto the side. After realizing where he'd decided to hide, he started stashing some more stuff into the plastic bag, grabbing a ton of copper wire and batteries as well as a wrench, a couple rolls of duct and electrical tape, and a handful of magnets.

"Hi," I said, finally revealing myself, causing him to jump so high he almost fell into the shovel display behind him.

"H-Hello," he replied weakly, his fingers white as a sheet from how tightly he was gripping onto his bag. "Who are you?"

"A friend and fellow foster home escapee." His eyes widened in surprise. He took a couple steps back like he was about to bolt, but just then the doors to the Sears burst open and the unmistakable sound of approaching security filled the air. My eyes darted back to his bag, the reason these officers were after him. "Follow my lead," I instructed, receiving a terse nod as his reply.

"There you are, you little punk!" an officer said, having traded in a stun gun for his baton. "You're under arrest for theft!"

"I'm sorry, officer, you must be mistaken," I said, taking the boy's hand into my own. "My little brother's been with me the whole time."

Above the officer's head, I saw a warm yellow glow, letting me know that my persuasion was working on him. But it was still pretty dim, meaning I had a ways to go.

"Oh, has he? Can I see a receipt for your purchase, then?"

"Of course." I reached into my bag and pulled out a blank receipt, manipulating the Mist to match the receipt to what was in the plastic bag. The officer snatched it out of my hand, scrutinizing it, before begrudgingly handing me the "receipt" in return. "Is something wrong?"

"My apologies, Miss." He picked up his radio from his belt, telling the others that this wasn't the right kid and that the thief was still on the loose. "Now both y'all have a good day and don't get into any trouble."

"We wouldn't dream of it," I said sweetly, flashing my kindest smile at the officer, dropping it the moment he turned his back on us. Even if that hadn't worked out in my favor, I would've gotten this kid out of this situation. Speaking of which, I finally let go of his hand, watching as he wiped it off on his tattered shirt, probably thinking I had cooties.

"Okay, who are you really?" the boy questioned, tying the bag to his wrist. "And how do you know about my…situation?"

"I read about you in the local newspaper," I replied with a shrug, motioning him to follow me to the clothing section of the store. "And since I know what it's like to be running from a foster home, I figured I could try to help."

The boy looked at me warily but seemed to trust me enough when I told him to pick out any outfit he wanted. He seemed even more confused when I told him he could pick out some new shoes as well as offering to pay for his added equipment, so that way we didn't run into the cops again.

He was a simple shopper, picking out a white long sleeved shirt, khaki cargo pants that had countless pockets, light brown suspenders, an army jacket, and brown boots that could definitely survive the rough terrain of the desert without falling apart at the seams.

"Do you have any other clothes?" I asked, feeling my heart break when he shook his head no. "Okay, then go pick out some more stuff and a backpack to carry it all in."

"Why are you doing this?" he asked as he returned to the clothing rack, immediately veering for the clearance section and running his fingers across the colorful shirts. "The lying, the kindness – why? We've never met before today, yet you're being so nice to me."

"I told you, I'm doing this because I understand. I've recently come into a little bit of money, and I've been traveling around the country, trying to help kids like you. Trust me, I've had terrible foster parents, eventually getting adopted by an abusive couple who loved to use me like a plaything. I know why kids run, even if the government doesn't. I want to help you, kid, so please, let me."

He was silent for a long time, choosing a couple more t-shirts and a mixture of pants and shorts. He flushed red in shame as he went to grab some socks and underwear, apparently only having one other pair that he had lost a couple days ago. I didn't judge him, instead helping him carry his new wardrobe.

By the end of our little shopping session, he had seven shirts, bottoms, pairs of socks and underwear, enough for a new outfit every day of the week. I then paid for all the clothes, equipment, and the new navy blue backpack he'd selected from a wall of backpacks.

"Thank you," he said weakly as I helped him fold his new clothes to fit inside his backpack. "For everything."

"Don't worry about it, kid. Speaking of which, what's your name?"

"My name is Leo."

"Nice to meet ya, Leo," I said with a smile, sticking out my hand. "I'm Andy."

* * *

I was currently sitting with Leo inside a Johnny Rocket's, slowly eating my fries, while Leo slurped at his chocolate milkshake and inhaled his burger and fries. At one point, I had to remind him to breathe after he'd almost choked on a huge bite out of his burger.

"You still hungry?" I asked, aware of how long Leo had been staring at my fries. He shook his head no, but his stomach betrayed him, growling softly. "Take them, Leo. I'm full, anyway."

"I can't do that," Leo said, his eyes tinged with sadness. "I've taken advantage of your kindness too much for one day."

"Leo, you're not taking advantage if I'm offering. If you're still hungry, take my fries. Heck, order another burger if you really want."

Leo was still staring at my plate guiltily, but I rolled my eyes and pushed my plate towards him, finally breaking down his resolve as he started polishing off the plate. I took a sip of my water, having finished my strawberry milkshake earlier, smiling as Leo enjoyed himself.

"You don't have to answer this," I asked, causing Leo to tense up like he expected to be hit, "but when was the last time you ate?"

"What's today's date?" Leo asked, two fries dangling from his mouth like vampire fangs, causing me to snort as I laughed. Sure, it was an overdone thing, but after being so quiet and reserved and un-Leo-like, it was nice to see a glimmer of his humor shining through.

"Um, May 29th if I'm not mistaken."

Leo had to think for a couple seconds, ticking the days off on his hands, before revealing that it had been ten days since he had eaten. It didn't take me long to order another burger and side of fries, telling Leo to eat in a very mother-like tone. Oh, no, Hera had gotten to me.

This time, Leo had no qualms about devouring his food, completely oblivious to some of the disgusted looks others were giving him. However, the looks stopped the moment I glared at said people, giving them a freezing cold smile that'd make them flinch and turn around, never staring at Leo again.

When I'd paid for our bill, we walked out, the sun sinking in the sky. Leo was happily skipping alongside me, acting like any eleven-year-old. In this moment in time, there was no trace of sadness on his elfish features, contentment having taken its place.

Leo then said, "Can I take you somewhere?" I started to laugh when he added, "Not like a date, I swear! I mean, you're smoking hot, but you're older than me and it'd be kinda weird-"

My sides hurt from how hard I was laughing, those muscles haven't being used for laughter ever since Artemis and her Hunters pranked all her brothers on the Olympian Council by supergluing them to their thrones. That wasn't the funniest part, though. No, that came in the form of an extremely drunk Party Pony appearing in a flashy green dress and doing some stuff that completely scandalized the male gods while the rest of us laughed our heads off.

"Don't worry, I get it," I said, wiping some tears away from my eyes. "And, yes, you can take me somewhere."

Leo's embarrassment melted away as a mischievous smile took its place, reminding me dangerously of the expression the Stoll brothers would make before they'd set the Demeter cabin on fire (that happened more often than you'd think).

We left the plaza, darting in and out of the orange glow casted by the street lamps as we walked in the arid spring night. At one point, Leo had thought it would be a good idea to start singing, "I'm singing in the rain," a hand wrapped around one of the street lamp's pole, slowly walking around it and dancing.

While that was comical in its own right, it got even better when he reached into the outer pocket of his backpack and pulled out a metal tube. He pressed the button, and the framework for an umbrella appeared, which he used as his prop as he continued skipping down the street, ignoring the side glances he was getting.

When Leo finished his musical number, I applauded and yelled, "Bravo!" as he bowed ever so graciously. But I guess he lost his balance, because the next thing I know, Leo fell backwards and landed on the road. His eyes widened in fear as he saw the headlights of an approaching car close in on him, before closing eyes, probably having already expected to die.

"No!" I shouted, jumping forward and shoving Leo out of the way. Unknowingly, I felt one of my powers act up as I pulled Leo tightly against my chest, holding him as he trembled against my embrace.

I looked up only to find that everything was encased in a gold glow, frozen in time. Thank the gods, I thought, helping Leo onto his feet and back to the sidewalk. I didn't tell him about the fact that if time hadn't frozen, we'd both have been killed by the car in the lane I'd just shoved us into, deciding that one near-death experience was enough for one day.

The second we were both safely on the sidewalk, time resumed again. The car that had been nanoseconds away from running Leo over slammed the breaks, the tires screeching against the pavement as it came to a halting stop. Luckily for the driver, no one was behind her to rear end her, preventing an accident from blocking up the flow of traffic.

"Stay off the damn street!" the lady yelled, giving us the finger before stepping on the gas, speeding away from us. Let's just say I didn't necessarily feel sorry for her when I saw the red and blue lights of a cop car trail after her.

Leo was still trembling, his arms wrapped tightly around my waist, almost as if my presence reassured him that he was still alive. I dropped down to his height and gave him a hug, instilling him with hope as I did, wanting to prevent as much collateral damage as possible.

"You're safe," I told him, rubbing circles on his back while he hyperventilated. "I've got you."

A few minutes later, Leo calmed down enough to let go of my waist, wordlessly holding my hand while leading me to the place he had wanted to show me. We eventually stopped in front of a sad looking apartment building.

The paint job was completely covered in dust and mud, preventing me from making out its color in the fading sunlight. Mold ran up and down the building, especially towards the ground floor. Anything made of metal was coated in rust, including the weather vane and lightning rod on the rooftop. The bushes that were supposed to provide privacy for the ground floor were all dead, being nothing more than dried up branches left to wither away in Texas' scorching heat. All in all, the place probably violated more health code regulations than I'd like to know.

Leo was scowling at the building, his hand growing increasingly hotter as his anger grew. Eventually, he got so mad that the hand holding mine caught fire, causing him to pull his hand away and stare at me in terror.

"Oh, God," Leo said, horrified of what had happened. "Did I hurt you?"

I showed him my hand, revealing that my skin was still intact and not at all charred. "Nope, that tickled," I said, shrugging off his concern. Leo's jaw dropped. "Fire can't hurt me, Leo."

"W-What do you mean by that?" he stuttered out, shoving his hands deeply into the pockets of his new army jacket.

I held out a hand and let fire dance across my palm, inwardly cringing at the pins and needle feeling that came along with this power of mine. It was more of a nuisance than anything, but both Hephaestus and Hestia promised that the feeling disappeared with time and practice. Easy to say when you're thousands of old.

Leo stared at the fire in my hand in shock before holding out his own hand, letting his own fire appear. "You're like me?" he asked, hope and fear palpable in his voice.

"Yes and no. I'm not allowed to say much, but we're very similar, Leo."

"Tell me why I have this ability, _please."_ Leo's eyes were dark with pain as he closed his hand into a fist, the fire dying out from lack of oxygen instantaneously. I wanted to tell him, I really did, but the Fates would have my head if I spoke a word about his true heritage.

"I can't tell you right now, I'm sorry. But I promise you, when you're older, you'll know the truth about everything. You'll know exactly why you can control fire and the truth about your family, but as of now, I am under oath to keep this information secret from you."

"Oath, like a spy?" Leo said bitterly, crossing his arms over his chest.

"I'm not a spy, but I know a lot more than I'm supposed to." I pinched the bridge of my nose in frustration when Leo gave me a look that said, _You're joking, right?_ "I wasn't lying about wanting to help, though. I have some stuff that will help you for the time being, just until you can get on your feet."

Like I'd done with Percy, I gave Leo a star and cloud charm, making him promise that he wouldn't take them off unless he was in a life-threatening situation. Leo nodded warily but still accepted the charms anyways, quickly sliding them onto a piece of wire and tying it around his wrist.

I also gave him one of my daggers, one of the two that I'd gotten from Capture the Flag, and told him to be careful with it. He looked at me like I was crazy, telling me there was no way he was going to accept a dagger from a girl he'd only met today.

"It's for your safety," I insisted, trying to get Leo to grab the hilt.

"Safety from what? From the cops? From social services?" He laughed bitterly. "I'm on the lam, Andy! I'll never be safe anywhere I go! Some dagger isn't going to change that."

"There's no harm in being armed," I argued.

When Leo continued to resist the dagger, I led him to the rickety, rust covered fence that was supposed to keep the building safe from outsiders. Once I got his attention, I slashed horizontally across the bars, pulling my hand back after my work was done. With a single stroke of my dagger, I'd cleanly cut through the thick iron bars, leaving a gash large enough for someone to be able to slide their hand through.

"Even if you don't use it for defense," I explained, offering Leo the dagger one more time, "it's an extremely valuable tool."

Leo was now staring at the dagger with a deranged smile, his mind already coming with all its possible uses. He finally closed his hand around the hilt, tucking it into a pocket of his army jacket after sheathing it in its leather scabbard I'd given him.

"So," I said, gesturing to the dilapidated building we were standing outside of. "Where'd you bring me, kid?"

Leo's smile dropped, an angry scowl taking its place. His hands were tightly clutching onto the rust covered bars of the fence, as if he was debating if he wanted to rip the door off its rusted hinges in an act of defiance.

"That," he spat, pointing at the building, "is where my Tia Rosa lives. She ruined my life!"

"What'd she do?"

"She shunned me from my own family, turning the rest of them against me after…after my mom died." Leo closed his eyes and turned away from the building, his back resting against the fence as he faced the street. "No one believes me about the fire and the dirt lady. Everyone thinks I wanted to kill my mom and that I just so happened to use fire when the doors to the garage locked."

"I was only eight," Leo continued, his voice tight with emotion. "You'd think my aunt would try to defend me or take me in like a loving family member, but instead she called me a _diablo,_ telling social services to get me out of her sight. In the past three years, I've already fled three foster homes, but they always seem to catch up to me again."

"I'm sorry," I said genuinely, placing a hand on his shoulder. "I never met my parents, leaving me forced to grow up in the foster care system. I was seven when I was adopted by this really nice couple, who promised to love me as if I were their own daughter. Things got really bad when I turned thirteen, and they started fighting all the time, constantly blaming one another for our financial troubles. One day, they stopped fighting, and I was overjoyed, thinking that we were finally going to go back to being a family like we had been over the past six years.

"But I was wrong," I continued, feeling resentment bubble up inside me even though I knew that this had never happened to me before. "They're fighting stopped, because they turned their anger to me. I was like a voodoo doll to them, torturing me until I passed out from the pain. When I finally turned fourteen, I ran away, not willing to take one more horrible beating by the people who claimed they loved me. Ever since then, I've been on my own, traveling around the country to help kids in the foster care system when they need it most."

"Can I see your scars?" Leo blurted out, clapping a hand over his mouth a second later. He had blanched, probably thinking that I was going to kill him for asking.

"Sure," I said with a shrug, lifting my tank top over my head. Oh, calm down all of you, I still had my sports bra on.

I felt Leo's calloused fingers trace against the scars on my back and stomach. Most of them had been as a result of training, but some had appeared as a result of the abusive couple who adopted me in this world. Then there were some scars, like the slash marks on my bicep, which were caused by monsters.

"Woah, that's a lot." Leo made sure to feel every one of them, as if he was checking that they were all real and I hadn't hired some special effects person to make them for me. "Some of these look really new, too."

"I'm a huge klutz." I pulled my tank top back on, redoing my hair into a messy bun. As I did that, I caught a glimpse of the time, swearing under my breath as I did so. Chiron may not have cared about my curfew, but Dionysus did, and because of the time zone difference, it was currently eight-fifty back at camp. I was supposed to be back by nine.

"Is everything okay?"

"I'm about to miss my curfew," I mumbled, reaching into my bag for that enchanted map. "Safe house," I commanded, watching the paper shimmer and the familiar red dot appear.

"That's so cool!" Leo exclaimed, snatching the map out of my hand, completely disregarding my earlier statement, to my relief. "How's it work? There aren't any wires or a screen; it feels and looks exactly like a map."

"Magic," I said, holding a hand out for the map back. Leo sighed in disappointment as he handed it back. "Okay, now follow me."

"Where are we going?"

"Somewhere safe."

"Because that isn't cryptic at all," Leo drawled out sarcastically, falling into step next to me. "But whatever you say, boss!"

I rolled my eyes, internally groaning at something else calling me "boss." Luckily for me, we weren't too far from my safe house, only four blocks away. Leo asked questions about the map the entire way, which I couldn't and wouldn't answer for two reasons: I'm not allowed to, and I didn't know the answers. Athena hadn't exactly deemed it important to find out how benevolent enchanted objects worked, especially something as trivial as a map, so I was kinda in the dark.

My safe house was an apartment on the second floor, which I'd turned into a haven for older demigods who wanted to have somewhat of a normal life outside of camp. I had many safe houses scattered across the country, so this place wasn't all that crowded.

There were only four kids in this safe house: a son of Ares, a daughter of Nike, a daughter of Hecate, and a daughter of Nemesis. They were all going to the local college or high school nearby, giving them a chance at normalcy outside of Camp Half-Blood.

"Andy!" the daughter of Hecate, Raina Thompson, greeted, looking up from the leather-bound spell book in her hand. "Long time, no see."

"I know," I chuckled, motioning for Leo to come in. "This is Leo, and he'll be staying here for the time being. If he wants to leave, don't stop him, but make sure he leaves with provisions."

"Okay, boss!"

I groaned out loud this time. "Have you all been speaking with Blackjack or something? I hate being called boss!"

"That gives all the more reason to do it!" Leo exclaimed while Raina nodded, as if that reasoning justified their actions.

"Whatever," I muttered under my breath, hearing the duo snicker at my annoyance. "Show Leo the ropes for me, please. And tell Johnathan that I'm expecting a thank-you note for bringing him another male."

"Oh, I will," Raina promised, giving me a knowing smirk. She turned to Leo, giving the younger boy a warm smile before leading him towards the back of the apartment, waving goodbye as they vanished down the hallway leading into the bedrooms.

Closing my eyes, I shadow-traveled myself to camp, sighing in relief when my watch only read 8:59. And it appeared as if evening activity had just ended, too, because there were campers coming up from the lake, making their way back to their cabins.

I walked into Cabin Three, Poseidon having granted me access ever since I saved Percy from Smelly Gabe all those years ago. I didn't make it a habit to sleep here, preferring the company of the Hermes cabin to this solitude, but I really didn't want to deal with anyone right now.

Before I went to bed, I sent an Iris-message to Mr. D, confirming my presence at camp, which he really didn't care about. "Don't care, Anna," he'd said in an annoyed tone, never looking up from his copy of _Weekly Wines._

"Lights out," I said to myself, flicking the switch before climbing under the covers, falling asleep to the scent of the ocean flooding the room.


	14. Chapter 14

Over the next few weeks, I settled back into my camper routine, usually tending to stick with the Hermes cabin. By now, Noah had left camp, and Kyle was the head counselor now. Much to my dismay, he ruled over cabin eleven with an iron fist, threatening all the other kids with permanent cleaning duty and punishing them in training to maintain his place within the cabin's social hierarchy.

Thankfully, the Stoll brothers managed to keep the levity amongst all the campers, pulling an endless amount of pranks on their older brother and always evading capture. Of the two I'd witnessed since my return, the best prank was the one that ended up with Kyle covered from head to toe in pink glitter and in a red cocktail dress. The Stoll brothers had even managed to put makeup on Kyle's face, although it was done rather messily as seen by the lipstick smear that had been across Kyle's forehead. Even better, Kyle had been cursed to wear the dress, glitter, and makeup for three days as apparently the get up belonged to a daughter of Aphrodite after being claimed.

Of course, the Stoll brothers ended up with dish duty for the rest of that week, but I knew it had been totally worth it by Kyle's constant mortification while others stared at him. Had it been anyone else, I would've felt guilty for not helping him out, but he had sided with Holly and tied me to a tree branch by the ankles. That isn't exactly the best way to make friends.

I'd also detested Kyle's dictatorship in the cabin, especially after I'd watched this one son of Iris flinch away from Kyle when his hand had gone to his belt around his waist. I remember feeling anger course through my veins as the kid curled up into a ball, begging for Kyle to stop.

The other kids either ignored the situation entirely or watch with frightful glances, unwilling to do anything to incur the wrath of the head counselor. Needless to say, I quickly put an end to that form of punishment, not even flinching when I felt Kyle's belt wrap around my wrist when I stood over the young boy.

"Get out of the way," Kyle had demanded in a low voice, his eyes glowing with unbridled rage. "This boy must be taught a lesson."

"Not like this," I had said, jerking my hand down, pulling the belt free from Kyle's grip. "You have no right to punish anyone like this, head counselor or not."

"You don't know what he did."

"Enlighten me, then." I then tossed the belt over to the Stoll brothers, giving them a silent order to keep it out of Kyle's hands. They gave me an almost imperceptible nod, Connor quickly shoving it into his pillowcase.

"He called me a heartless psychopath. Me, the boy who saved him," – Kyle jabbed a finger at the boy's direction – "from being dog chow. Where's the gratefulness?"

"It disappeared the first time you hurt me," the boy whimpered, curling into a tighter ball, his hands over his head in an attempt to protect himself. The poor kid thought that Kyle was going to pummel him with his fists instead of his belt now.

"Unbelievable," I muttered under my breath, glaring daggers at Kyle. "What's your problem? Why do you think it's a good idea to hurt these kids?"

"They earned it." Kyle shrugged, not a hint of remorse in his words or on his face. "I don't hurt anyone who follows orders. Isn't that right, guys?"

There were a few mutters of assent, but they were most likely out of fear from becoming Kyle's next target rather than actually agreeing with his statement. It must've sucked living in the Hermes cabin these past few years if Kyle was always like this.

"No, I refuse to let you keep doing this," I said with contempt, struggling to keep myself from punching Kyle's lights out. He had some serious anger issues that needed to be worked through, preferably with a therapist that specialized in demigods. "I challenge you to a duel to be head of the Hermes cabin."

Now everyone was paying attention to us, gasping at my sudden declaration. Even the kids that had been feigning disinterest looked up, shock written on everyone's faces. They'd been living in constant fear of Kyle for the past few years, learning to accept his demands instead of fighting back.

Kyle chuckled darkly, shaking his head like he knew something I didn't. "You're not even a child of Hermes, you witch. You _can't_ challenge me to a duel for head counselor!"

"Which rule says that? As far as I'm concerned, the only requirements to change head counselor is go on more quests than the current one – which I have, by the way – or challenge them to a duel." I smirked as Kyle's cool façade started to crumble. "I'm giving you a choice, Kyle. Take it or leave it."

"Tomorrow, noon," Kyle spat, his face a bright red as he tried to maintain his composure. "Be prepared to face my wrath."

"Whatever you want," I replied sweetly, my smirk growing when Kyle stormed out of the cabin, the door slamming shut behind him.

The cabin erupted in cheers when Kyle left. The young son of Iris that had been curled up in fetal position stood up and launched himself at my legs, my pants becoming a sponge for his tears as he thanked me over and over again.

The other kids that Kyle had hit over the past three years came up to me as well, showing me their scars and asking if I could help them. It broke my heart to see so many children covered in scars, scars they had gotten in a place that was supposed to be a safe haven for them. Many of the scars were ugly, unnatural colors, indicating an infection.

Anger bubbled in my chest again, but I forced the emotion down, preferring to channel it into my attacks during tomorrow's duel. I gave what little antibiotics I had left to the kids whose infections were in the incipient stages, while taking the rest to the infirmary to be properly taken care of.

Cleo had been just as upset as I had been, a permanent scowl on her face as she and her younger brother, Will Solace, treated the eight kids I'd brought in. The two children of Apollo set up the kids with IV antibiotics and stitched up some of the deeper wounds Kyle had left behind.

"I knew he was a jerk," Cleo had whispered to me as she set the rate of delivery of the antibiotics for a daughter of Nemesis, "but never in a million years would I expect him to do this."

"Me neither," I said with a sigh, raking a hand through my unkempt curls. "I'm going to destroy him tomorrow."

Cleo rolled her eyes, the corner of her lips quirking upwards. "Take it easy on him, Andy. We both know that you'll win."

"But maybe a broken arm…?"

"No, Andromeda Collins, you will not stoop to his level."

"Fine," I conceded, earning a couple giggles from Will. "But no promises."

"I wouldn't expect it any other way," Cleo said with a devious smirk, setting the last clipboard down onto the countertop. Will took a seat behind the desk, his nose deep into a book about human anatomy, choosing to block out the rest of the world. "So, how's life been?"

I arched my eyebrows up at her. "Chaotic, like always. You'd be surprised about the amount of messes the gods get into and expect for me to clean up."

"Oh, so nothing new," Cleo said sarcastically, taking a seat on an empty bed and patting the spot next to her, an invitation to join her. "Any new stories about Dad?"

"Always do, especially ones that involve Hermes. Seriously, how pranking isn't a minor domain for Apollo is beyond my comprehension."

"Tell me about it." I knew Cleo wasn't only referring to her father that time, talking about Olympus and the gods as a whole.

As far as I know, Cleo's only been to Olympus twice on the camp's annual trip during the winter solstice, but both times the gods had been busy, confining the demigods to the throne room. Before that, she'd been too young to go on the field trip, as Chiron usually left those younger than ten behind under the care of Argus.

So I told her everything she wanted to know, down to the number of pictures Apollo had of his children. Of course, I kept the more personal stuff I'd witnessed to myself, like the way Apollo sang haunting melodies at night to keep himself sane, or how Aphrodite refused to settle on a single appearance out of fear of rejection. I didn't tell her that Hades was still grieving over the loss of his last three children, that the real reason Dionysus was rude to campers was to distance himself and prevent heartbreak, or how Hera would cry herself to sleep whenever someone would mention Thalia or Jason.

Although the gods tended to act like petty children most of the time, after spending five years with them, I understood a little bit about what made them act the way they did. Athena invested herself in knowledge to block out her anger towards the Romans for stealing the Athena Parthenos. Hephaestus stayed in his forges to avoid ridicule from his family as well as Aphrodite, because watching his wife sneak around Ares really hurt him, even if he'd never admit it.

As much as they wanted to play high and mighty immortals, at their very cores, the gods were just as human as the rest of us on Earth. They cared for their children very dearly – well, most of them did at any rate – and hated the Ancient Laws for keeping them away. They loved and lost like the rest of us did, except theirs was on a much greater scale, what with being immortal and all.

I wished that one day all demigods would be able to see the Olympians in the same way I did – as flawed individuals who usually did their best to keep the natural order of things. I say usually, because right now Zeus is threatening to start World War III based on his own paranoia instead of looking at the facts.

I left the infirmary a little while later, choosing to go practice on the lava wall with some of the other older campers. Chiron had opened up a time slot at most activities for the older campers only – by that, I mean over fifteen – so that we didn't have to worry about the younger ones.

James, who was currently in charge of running the lava wall, had the dial set all the way up to Poseidon's Fury, which was the hardest setting the Hephaestus cabin had yet to invent. Basically, the wall shook like you were in a massive earthquake, and the lava rose as if it was pure water.

Needless to say, not many campers enjoyed that setting. And for the few adrenaline junkies who enjoyed Poseidon's Fury, most of the time, someone would have to hit the kill switch after a camper would nearly fall to their fiery death. Last I checked, only the satyrs had successfully made it to the top with that setting.

Only at Camp Half-Blood would this be considered normal.

And I guess Camp Jupiter, too, but I don't think they have an enchanted lava wall.

Oh, well.

"Who's up next?" James asked from behind the control panel, resetting the wall for the next run. Three of us raised our hands: Holly, Kyle, and me.

"Oh, joy," I muttered to myself, sticking my hands into the bucket of chalk we had on the floor. We didn't have ropes or harnesses, which may have been a liability issue anywhere else, but this would prepare us if this type of situation arose in the real world, where our fingers holding us up meant the difference between life and death.

"I'm guessing you all want the hardest level?" We all nodded, and James smiled, glad that his contribution to the lava wall was being used. "Don't say I didn't warn you. Take your places!" James waited until Kyle, Holly, and I were all positioned at the starting footholds before pulling the lever that would activate the wall.

I began scrambling up the footholds, wanting to get as high up as possible before the wall was vibrating at full capacity. Already I could feel the heat of the rising lava, and the wall itself felt like I was standing at the epicenter of a 3.5 magnitude earthquake.

A good thing about Poseidon's Fury was that you were so concentrated on not dying that you really didn't have time to sabotage others, meaning that while I was racing against arguably my two biggest enemies at camp, they couldn't hurt me without hurting themselves as a result.

Despite being fireproof, the hairs on my arms were beginning to singe off from the heat alone, and I knew I had to hurry up. The muscles in both my arms and legs were quickly getting tired, more from the unusual vibrations versus actual fatigue. Sweat was pouring down the back of my neck, but I didn't have any time to wipe it away, bringing myself up onto a little ledge that signified that halfway point.

I spared a glance down, only to find out that I was the last one on the wall. My eyes widened at the realization, and I took to the wall again, my fingers finding places to latch onto the wall as lava started coming down in streams from the top as well, cutting off certain routes.

I figured I must've looked like a spider to those who were watching me from down below as I started jumping around, the lava no longer allowing for me to merely climb straight upwards. On one of my jumps, I landed awkwardly, forcing the air out of my lungs as I felt my left hand let go of my hold on the rock, my feet desperately trying to find a foothold.

Using my right hand, I pulled myself up a little bit, just enough for me to find somewhere to push off of. Once I was no longer in danger of plummeting into the lava, which was now only a mere three feet away from me, I forced myself to climb faster, avoiding the growing streams of lava from the top, which was still a good twenty feet higher than where I was.

I groaned inwardly but kept pushing through, refusing to give up when I still had a fighting chance of completing the wall. My body felt as if it were made of Jell-O from how hard the wall was shaking now, my vision starting to blur together as I kept climbing. I couldn't even breathe through my mouth, because I feared I'd bite off my tongue if I did that.

I got a couple feet higher before my hands were starting to slip every time I grabbed onto the rock, giving me little time to plant my feet before continuing upwards. Now, I could make this easier on myself and climb directly through the lava, but where's the fun in that?

After a few more close calls, I was finally dragging myself over the top of the wall, my entire body shaking in exhaustion as I flopped onto my back, breathing heavily. Wendy had been at the top of the wall, waiting with towels and water bottles for the campers that managed to make it to the top. Since it was only me, I drained two of the water bottles while dumping the third one over my head, feeling a little bit of strength rush back into my limbs. I declined the towels, telling Wendy that I'd much rather hit the showers instead.

When I got back to the bottom of the wall, I was met with some enthusiastic cheers from the other campers. Kyle and Holly were standing off to the side, glaring at me before skulking off somewhere else.

I ignored the other campers, watching Kyle and Holly disappear. All I wanted to know was why those two hated me so much. I understood Holly's anger about the whole toilet water incident, but I didn't know why Kyle had it out for me. Maybe he was afraid of me or something, but I know I definitely gave him another reason to antagonize me after challenging him to a duel.

I guess we were just fated to never get along.

* * *

Noon approached extraordinarily fast, in my opinion, as I walked to the arena in my normal, everyday clothes. Some campers decided to show up as well, but it was clear that this was an issue within the Hermes cabin only.

I stood in the middle of the arena, waiting for Kyle to arrive to get this over with. A couple minutes later, Kyle strolled in, decked out in his full armor, down to the plumed helmet. Chiron had been brought down to proctor the fight (it was a weekend, so he could leave Yancy), more as an insurance to make sure we didn't actually kill each other.

"Heroes," Chiron began, drawing attention of the kids that were sitting in the stands. "Today we shall witness a duel between Andy Collins and Kyle Martin for the position of the head counselor for the Hermes cabin. No maiming or killing is allowed. The use of powers will also be prohibited during this duel to keep it as fair as possible. Now, shake hands, arm yourselves, and we shall begin."

"You're dead," Kyle hissed lowly as he shook my hand, quickly recoiling afterwards, as if I'd bitten him. He went and picked up his axe and a shield, standing outside the circle that Chiron had drawn in the sand for us to duel in. This way, we minimized the likelihood of someone else getting hurt.

I stood opposite Kyle, my arms across my chest as I waited for the signal to walk into the circle.

"Andy," Chiron said, staring at me in confusion. "What is your weapon?"

"I don't need a weapon to defeat a child abuser," I growled, feeling that pent up anger I'd felt yesterday bubble up in my chest. It was only a matter of time before it burst.

"Very well. Duelers, please take a step within the circle." We did as instructed, and I immediately got into my fighting stance, making sure that I didn't have any visible weak points for Kyle to exploit. "Begin!"

We began to circle each other – Kyle searched for an opening, while I was waiting for him to make the first move. If I wanted to, I could've ended this fight in a heartbeat, but there was no way I was going to let him get off so easily for hurting innocent children.

Kyle finally rushed forward, trying to blind me with the sun's reflection off his shield while his axe swung around. I jumped back to avoid his axe before sprinting forward, inside the space where he couldn't merely swing his axe around if he was going to hit me.

My fist connected with Kyle's nose as he tried to scramble back for some room, making me thankful that Greek armor didn't protect that part of our face. Kyle dropped his shield to clutch at his broken nose that was gushing blood, giving me time to scoop it up and block another swing. I noticed that Kyle's style was all about power, brute strength. With a few tactical attacks, I could end this before he knew what was going on.

I feigned an attack to the left, Kyle's favored side, before getting down into a crouch and sweeping his feet out from underneath him, sending him to the ground. With Kyle's shield in hand, I brought it down on his stomach, knocking the air out of him. I then tossed the shield outside of the circle, making it so that it was no longer a viable weapon in this duel.

"I could go all day," I told Kyle, easily sidestepping his next attack, returning it with a kick to the kidneys that even though he was covered in armor, it would leave a nasty bruise. He then brought down his axe vertically in a double handed swing, the kind that someone would use if they wanted to chop firewood.

I moved out of the way and kicked the back of his knee, giving him a dead leg. He crumpled to the ground again, his axe embedding itself into the dirt floor. Before he could pick up his axe again, I lunged forward, wrapping my arms in a tight chokehold around his neck. Kyle elbowed me in the chest in the hopes that I'd let go, but all he got out of me was a stronger exhale than normal. After training with gods, this elbow to the ribs honestly just tickled.

I squeezed tighter, feeling Kyle struggle in my grasp. Now, if he had tapped out or tried to pull my arms away, I would've done so, but he had been too proud to even try, continuing to elbow me or writhe around like a worm, thinking that would help his escape. Honestly, all he was doing was using up precious oxygen that he didn't have much left of.

Kyle had even thrown us to the floor, him flopping on his back thinking that his weight on top of me would startle me enough to let go. Sorry to disappoint. It wasn't until Chiron intervened, right as Kyle was about to pass out from hypoxia, that I let abruptly let go, allowing for Kyle to clutch his throat as he tried to catch his breath.

"The duel is finished!" Chiron announced, earning some scattered applause from the kids in the stands. "Andy is the new head counselor of the Hermes cabin. Now, off to your classes, young ones."

I stood up and brushed the dirt off my clothes before offering a hand up to Kyle. He glared at me like I had leprosy and stood up on his own, violently throwing the pieces of his armor to the ground and kicking his shield as hard as he could. He shouldn't have done the latter, though, because he began to swear in Ancient Greek, jumping up and down as he clutched his injured foot.

"Idiot," I muttered to myself, picking up after Kyle and returning the armor back to the armory. Chiron watched as I cleaned up the rest of the weapons that had been brought out for the duel, only leaving Kyle's axe on the table in case he came back for it. Chiron trotted over once I was done and placed a hand on my shoulder. I tensed, already sensing what he was going to ask me.

"Before the duel began," Chiron started, and I knew I'd hit the nail on the head, "you accused Kyle of being a child abuser. That's an extremely dangerous accusation to make, Andromeda, so I better hear some compelling evidence."

"Go ask the children in the infirmary," I said bitterly, shrugging Chiron's hand off my shoulder. "I also saw Kyle do it with my own eyes. If I hadn't stepped in, he was going to beat Olly again. For some of the kids in the cabin, the only reason they have scars is because of Kyle." Chiron looked at me, his eyes shining in disbelief. "Great," I laughed miserably. "You don't believe me."

"No, on the contrary. I fear I believe you all too much." Chiron began picking at the edges of his tweed jacket, which he was still wearing despite the immense heat. "I always knew Kyle was on the violent side, but I never thought he'd stoop so low as to hurt the children in his care. I figure it is a good thing that you are head counselor for cabin eleven."

"I believe it will be so," I said, my fingers tracing my beads along my neck. "On a complete side note, how is our friend doing?"

Chiron arched his eyebrows at me as we left the arena, pausing as we stood by an empty volleyball court. "He's doing as well as any twelve-year-old with ADHD and dyslexia can. Though, there was an incident between him and a Kindly One during our field trip last week."

" _Di immortales,"_ I swore, starting to spin one of the beads around the leather cord. "It's only a matter of time before they find out. Especially with what's going on up on Olympus…Chiron, they're going to kill him."

"We've used the Mist on everyone on campus, so that may postpone it for the time being. There's no use in fretting about something that hasn't come to pass, anyhow. All I can say is that Grover is a very capable satyr, and I believe they will make it here safely."

With that, Chiron trotted away to break up a fight between the Ares and Apollo cabins, leaving me glaring at the grass. Of course he tells me not to worry about the sole reason I was here in the first place. It's my job and duty to fret about the things that haven't come to pass.

Sighing at Chiron's blissful ignorance, I turned around and headed straight into the forest, summoning Epithymia as I did. I needed to burn off some energy right now, and what better way than to kill some stuff? I took off, leaving the rest of camp in the distance.

* * *

The sun had set about an hour ago, but I was still out in the forest, letting the water from the stream brush by my ankles as I looked up at the constellations overhead. Despite the camp's magical borders, we were still too close to the pollution from New York, making it harder to make out the stars.

Subconsciously, I pulled out the _House of Hades,_ my fingers tracing over the cover as I stargazed. I knew that Bob was still Iapetus at the moment, probably still wandering the hellish pit of Tartarus for his brothers to come up with a plan. Still, I wanted to say hello to the stars for him, for _Bob_ , the good titan who had helped Percy and Annabeth get to the Doors of Death.

I shook my head, ridding myself of those thoughts. I couldn't do any of that without someone, namely Artemis, finding out. And keeping my secret was hard enough as it was, especially when my predictions would come to pass exactly as I said they would.

At one point, Zeus had gotten so suspicious that he asked Apollo to probe my mind, wanting to see if Kronos had been influencing my thoughts without my knowledge or if I was somehow connected to one of the various oracles under Apollo's protection. Once it was clear that that hadn't been the case, Zeus' fear of me grew even more, enforcing harsher rules on me, which came to fruition as daily check-ins instead of weekly ones.

Behind me, the leaves rattled with the sound of monsters running around, probably scouring the forest for any demigods to eat. I wasn't particularly worried, Epithymia still in my hand while I kept all my senses on high alert. Plus, a lot of the monsters the forest was stocked with were idiots, using the tactic of destroying things first and asking questions later.

The full moon's silvery light permeated through the treetops, casting a faint glow on the ground. The water in the stream shimmered, as if it had been imbued with pure liquid silver, which made me smile as its simple beauty.

Over the past few years, I'd learned to enjoy the simple things in life. I loved feeling the sun's warmth on my skin, the scent of the ocean breeze on a windy day, the joy of getting a new book to read. Many people took these little things for granted, but with the knowledge of the fact that I could be killed any day, I did my best to remain thankful for basic things.

I heard the flutter of the harpies' wings as they flew overhead, one of them screeching, "I smell a half-blood!"

"We work in a camp full of half-bloods, you dolt!" the other shouted in reply, the two of them turning to bicker as the sounds of their wings grew fainter.

Maybe I should've head back, what with being the new head counselor of the Hermes cabin, but I dreaded to see Kyle again, more out of sheer annoyance than fear. I still wanted to break every bone in his body for what he had done, but I figured hurting his ginormous ego could suffice for today.

Eventually, I pulled my feet out of the stream and began my walk to the Hermes cabin, my shoes in one hand while my sword was in the other. Nothing decided to attack me on the way back, making it easier to slip into the Hermes cabin undetected by anyone outside. Of course, my new charges noticed my appearance, staring at me like they were waiting for an explanation of where I was.

"I was talking to Chiron," I lied, pressing the button on Epithymia's hilt that turned it back into a charm. "Light's out in five minutes, guys."

There were some groans of discontentment from the younger kids, but some of the older kids that had bunks were already sleeping, blissfully unaware of anything else. After tucking in some of the younger kids and the newbies, I took my place on the floor, staring up at the ceiling while I waited for daybreak.


	15. Chapter 15

The next couple of weeks were some of the best of my life. Being head counselor came to me naturally, much to my surprise. Sure, I wasn't the most popular girl in my cabin when having to admonish people for stealing stuff from the Ares cabin and not expect it to come bite them in the butt. I also had to remind the Stoll brothers that setting the Demeter cabin on fire was _not_ an acceptable gesture of friendship, earning some fake groans from the two of them as they dashed off to pull another prank.

For the first time in my life, I felt like I blended in with others, not the freak amongst a bunch of normal people. Even back home, I'd been picked on for being a nerd, and that was just without Holly, Carol, Kathleen, Mandy, and Ilene contributing to it. Sure, adoration from teachers was nice and all, but I was always the girl that ate lunch by herself in the library. I would've sat with Rebecca and Jade, but their electives made it so they had the second lunch, leaving me by myself.

I guess my previous situation could've been worse. I mean, I still had friends and Mrs. Stetson, so it wasn't all bad. But I hated high school, the way I felt like I was being scrutinized under a microscope by all the older kids whose classes I was in. Not my fault I was taking precalc honors in sophomore year, but they still picked on me anyway.

I was broken out of my reverie by a loud clap of thunder booming overhead. The clouds above camp were dark gray and swirling around violently, ready to burst with an incoming torrent. The magical borders surrounding camp would prevent the rain from landing in the valley, but I still thought that the proximity of the lightning was too close for comfort.

Later, as the sun was starting to set, I heard an angry growl rip itself free from a beast's throat. No one else paid it much attention, brushing off the growl as coming from something in the woods. But I knew better, and it appeared Annabeth did as well.

The two of us dashed to the borders, the rain coming down in slanted sheets, making it impossible to see anything. I saw a flash of red before a black, shadowy figure charged forward, its head getting stuck in Thalia and Luke's pine tree.

"We need to help whoever's out there," Annabeth said, gripping the hilt of her dagger tightly. We both winced as the figure pulled back, a loud _snap!_ echoing through the rain. A figure of a child approached the tree, tugging at something with all their might before rolling backward, clinging to the object.

"Give him a chance," I told Annabeth, fighting every instinct in my body that was screaming for me to go help Percy. When it was clear that he had won, I instructed Annabeth to go find Chiron and tell him of what had happened.

Annabeth looked kind of miffed about not getting to fight the monster, but she didn't argue, sheathing her dagger and taking off for the Big House, her blonde curls bouncing as she ran. I moved out of the way, too, not wanting Percy to see me yet. This was a crucial moment in the books, one that I couldn't possibly interfere with unless I wanted to sacrifice the possibility of Percy and Annabeth's relationship.

From a safe distance, I watched as Percy dragged an unconscious Grover towards the Big House, shouting for someone to help him. Some of the nearby dryads took pity on Percy and whisked Grover away, steering him in the direction of the Big House.

I trailed behind Percy, watching as he fell to his back on the porch of the Big House, Chiron and Annabeth standing above him. "He's the one. He must be," she said, looking up at the centaur.

"Silence, Annabeth," Chiron said. "He's still conscious. Bring him inside."

Annabeth then expertly stooped down and wrapped Percy's arms around her shoulders, letting the rest of his body drag behind her as she took him inside. I knew she'd bring him down to the former infirmary in the basement, one that was typically reserved for cases like Percy's. It was much easier to convince a new kid that they were at a camp when they woke up in a cot instead of the hospital-esque setting that the infirmary ran by the Apollo children gave off.

It took two days for Percy to wake up. I visited him a few times while he was unconscious, but whenever I thought he was stirring, I'd cloak myself in shadows, allowing for Annabeth to sit down and feed him some ambrosia. She'd been appointed Percy's nurse by Chiron, which she took very seriously, foregoing her schedule to take care of him.

"Prepare a bunk in the Hermes cabin," Chiron had said, giving me a stern look after catching me walk up the stairs from where Percy was resting. I knew he wanted to know why I felt so responsible for Percy, but I kept my mouth shut and merely nodded, promising that I'd be ready to welcome him when he was awake.

Sure enough, Chiron, Annabeth, and Percy showed up at the cabin as we were dressing for our track training. I'd become the track instructor after Chiron learned that I could run a mile without breaking a sweat in a little under four minutes. Perks of training with Hermes.

The door opened and I heard Chiron say, "Cabin eleven. Make yourself at home." We all stood up and bowed in Chiron's direction, dropping whatever we were doing to show our respect. "Well, then," the centaur continued. "Good luck, Percy. I'll see you at dinner."

Chiron trotted away, and we all stood up, watching Percy carefully. I bit back a snicker when he tripped coming in through the door. Once a klutz, always a klutz, I thought to myself, remembering the time Percy had gotten so excited over a bag of blue candy that he tripped over his shoelaces and face planted on a carpet before shouting, "I'm okay!"

"Percy Jackson, meet cabin eleven," Annabeth announced, gesturing to the rest of us.

"Regular or undetermined?" Brian, a son of Hermes, asked.

"Undetermined." This was met with everyone groaning.

"Now, now, guys," I said, shushing all the groans. "That's what we're here for. I'll set Percy up for the night. The rest of you go ahead to the track, and you better have done your mile warmup by the time I'm there or conditioning for everyone!"

Everyone groaned again but begrudgingly stood up, not wanting to face my conditioning again. I didn't give out punishments like Kyle did, instead adding time to training to make the campers understand that my kindness wasn't to be taken for weakness.

Percy blinked twice, as if he wasn't registering what he was seeing. "A-Andy?" he asked, taking a step in my direction, still clutching to the Minotaur horn in his hand like a lifeline.

"Hiya, kid," I said with a smile, bracing myself for the inevitable hug I was about to receive.

"I can't believe this," Percy said shakily, burying his face into my orange camp tee to hide from the rest of the campers. "I wasn't expecting to see you here."

"Same here," I lied, ruffling Percy's hair in an older sister fashion. "But I'm glad you're here now. We'll catch up later, I promise, but I need to go teach my class before our cabin mates set the track on fire. Annabeth will finish showing you around. Welcome to Camp Half-Blood."

I pulled out another sleeping bag from a small closet in the back of the cabin, setting it directly next to mine. I told Percy he could set his Minotaur horn on my bag, as the campers had learned the hard way about what happened if they tried to steal my stuff.

Annabeth disappeared with Percy, and I rushed off to the track, not surprised to see the rest of the kids lounging around lazily. After a long hour and a half of conditioning, in which I'm sure most of the kids were begging the gods to curse me, I announced that we were done for the day, eliciting a round of cheers from everyone.

I pulled my hair up into a messy bun and poured the rest of my water bottle over my head, mostly to wash off some of my sweat. After drying my face with my towel, I went in the direction of the showers, wanting to clean up before dinnertime.

As I approached the bathrooms, I watched as Clarisse clamped a hand around Percy's neck, dragging him towards the toilets in very much the same way Holly had done to me all those years ago. Good to know that she passed that tradition on, I thought bitterly, catching up with Annabeth.

"Initiation?" I asked Annabeth, wiping my face with the back of my hand.

"Sadly," Annabeth answered, glaring at Clarisse. She then turned to look at me, as if she was remembering something. "Didn't Holly Garfield do this to you, too?"

"Yup," I answered. "But I shadow-traveled away before she could give me a swirly."

"Are you a child of Hades?" Annabeth gasped, her face pale.

"Nope, but my father is the reason I can shadow-travel."

Before Annabeth could ask anything else, the bathroom exploded with a flood of water. Powerful streams of toilet water pushed the rest of the Ares girls out of the bathroom while the showers attacked us, dousing us in freezing cold water. Guess I didn't need a shower now.

Percy staggered out of one of the stalls, perfectly dry and clutching his gut like he was going to throw up. "You're so dead, Prissy!" Clarisse roared, her brown eyes alight with rage.

"You want to gargle with toilet water again, Clarisse? Close your mouth," Percy spat.

I smirked slightly when I saw her sisters dragging Clarisse out of the bathroom, spewing profanities while campers moved away from her flailing feet. Some things never change, I guess.

Annabeth shivered beside me, but she was staring at Percy with newfound interest. Percy, noticing Annabeth's piercing glare, scratched the back of his neck sheepishly. "What are you thinking?"

"I'm thinking," Annabeth said, locking eyes with me, "that I want you on my team for capture the flag."

* * *

That night at dinner, I sat next to Percy, who was forced to share a wooden crate with Sheldon since we didn't have enough room on the bench. I wished that Chiron would build a cabin for the unclaimed campers only, as that would free up a lot of space inside the Hermes cabin, but I knew that wouldn't come to pass for another four years until Percy asked the Olympians.

I waited for the Aphrodite cabin to finish giving their offerings before leading my cabin up to the brazier. Percy was watching us with confusion, and after explaining how offerings worked, he joined us and tossed in the juiciest part of his brisket into the flames. He lingered for a few seconds, his lips moving in a silent prayer.

When he took his seat again, I explained how the enchanted cups worked, smiling softly to myself when Percy's cup filled with blue Cherry Coke. I asked my glass to fill up with blue Cherry Coke as well, earning a weak smile from Percy.

"How's your mom?" I asked casually, already knowing the answer. I didn't want to hurt Percy, but I knew it would be weird for me not to say anything about Sally when she and I were good friends.

Percy flinched so hard his knees banged the underside of the table. His eyes were full of pain, giving me a silent shake of his head for a reply. He took another sip of his Coke, staring mournfully at the blue color.

"Oh," I said quietly, pushing my plate aside, no longer that hungry. "When?"

"The Minotaur," Percy said bitterly, stabbing at his broccoli like he had a personal vendetta against the vegetable. "It crushed her into gold dust."

I stayed silent, knowing that Percy wouldn't appreciate some generic "I'm sorry" statement. Plus, it's not like Sally was really dead. She'd be fine by the end of the month.

Percy's fingers went to fiddle with the star and cloud charms around his neck, and whenever his fingers brushed over the cloud, a shock would run through my body. I knew that was the way the charm worked, but now I was wishing that it only used mind messaging. As for the star charm, now that Percy knew he was a demigod, the most its magic could do is mask him to appear like a child of an Olympian that wasn't a part of the Big Three.

Afterwards, Chiron did the whole announcement to the camp about another demigod, in this case, Percy, having made it alive to Camp Half-Blood. Mr. D also added in his own remarks, calling Percy Jackson Peter Johnson for the first time, forcing me to bite the inside of my cheek so I didn't squeal like the fangirl I am.

Say what you will about me, but when you get to live alongside your favorite characters, it's a wonder you're still able to function on a daily basis. I'll admit, I almost passed out from excitement the first time I met Nico di Angelo (long story), but I had learned to mask my emotions as a result of training in lying with Hermes.

When we went back to the cabin after the sing-along, I watched as Kyle handed Percy a bag of toiletries from the camp store. The exchange made me wary, but I figured this was Kyle trying to get better as a person.

I internally scoffed, remembering what I'd found out the night I'd become head counselor. Since Luke was no longer in any position to be the host of Kronos, my father had turned his attention to another son of Hermes, namely Kyle Martin. But according to the books, Kyle was supposed to act like Luke, so I didn't interfere with their budding friendship even though I wanted nothing more than to send him off into space, far away from Percy and Kronos.

"Lights out," I called, giving everyone enough time to get situated before flicking off the light switch, carefully stepping over the campers on the floor as I made my way to my sleeping bag.

Percy was next to me, glaring at the Minotaur horn in his hand. His fingers were running up and down the horn's ridges, but he refused to touch the tip, which was stained a rusty red from the Minotaur's blood. If a wound was superficial enough, a monster could bleed without turning into dust. But in this case, I imagine the horn had caused the Minotaur to bleed at first, and it wasn't until Percy punctured his heart that he finally turned to dust.

"Hey," I whispered softly, catching Percy's attention. "I'm always here if you need me, Percy." I reached over and tapped at the cloud charm, causing him to scrunch his eyebrows together in confusion. "Remember that."

I then snuggled into my own sleeping bag, hoping to get some peaceful rest tonight. Kronos had been invading my dreams for the past week, showing me images of the world on fire as he stood over my dead body, a dagger hilt deep in my chest while also sporting a thick slash mark across my neck. Yeah, someone give him a Father-of-the-Year-Award pronto.

While I wasn't necessarily afraid of all the dreams – I'd be crazy not to fear some of them – they weren't exactly conducive to a good night's sleep, causing me to wake up with dark circles under my eyes. Thankfully, Chiron permitted for head counselors to drink coffee at breakfast, so I'd been running on the stuff for a week.

And luckily for me, I didn't have any dreams that night.

* * *

Friday's capture the flag game couldn't come soon enough for me.

Don't get me wrong, I love our sing-alongs and plays, but my favorite evening activities were the ones where things could get aggressive. Chiron had banned chariot racing a few years back after the staggering amount of deaths and injuries, which had been a controversial decision at the time, but had been accepted over time.

When Friday night finally approached, spirits were high all over Camp Half-Blood, especially amongst the Athena and Ares kids. After getting sweet talked by Annabeth about chores and shower slots, the Apollo and Hermes cabins sided with Athena, while Ares got everyone else.

Malcolm was holding the blue team's flag, a silver banner with an owl perched on an olive branch embroidered in the middle. Clarisse held the red team's flag, a dark red banner with a severed boar's head surrounded in barbed wire filling up the flag.

As Chiron went over the rules, I tightened the straps on my armor, not wanting to suffer the same fate as Jemma Howard, a daughter of Demeter, had last week. Someone had seen that Jemma's armor was loose and managed to rip her breastplate off of her with some deft strokes of a spear. Jemma was fine, other than a scratch on her side, but thoroughly embarrassed.

With a matchup like tonight, I wasn't going to risk the chance of my armor getting used as a weapon against me. Epithymia was already in my hand, ready for tonight's game.

"Dirty tricks are to be expected," Chiron announced, earning some chuckles from campers, especially from my cabin. "No maiming or killing, please! Heroes, arm yourselves!"

Chiron waved a hand over a large empty table, weapons magically showing themselves on the wood. I scooped up a fallen dagger to make up for the one I'd given Leo, and stood next to Annabeth and Cleo, the head counselors of the Athena and Apollo cabins, respectively.

"Athena and Apollo will take the offense," Annabeth said confidently. "Hermes will cover defense. I want Andy and Uriah guarding the flag at all times. Anything else you'd like to add, guys?"

"Stay safe, have fun, and let's win this thing!" I cheered, raising my sword up in the air. Everyone else gave one last cheer before dispersing, going to where Annabeth had commanded them to either attack or defend.

Percy was wandering around like a lost puppy, but Annabeth quickly told him he was on border patrol, gesturing to where the creek was. Inwardly I winced, remembering what had happened the last time I was given border patrol at the creek. Percy would be fine, I told myself, picking out a spot for Uriah to plant our flag.

Chiron blew his whistle, and the game began, the sound of cheering and metal clashing filling the air. Uriah and I stood opposite each other at the required distance of nine feet away from the flag, circling around it as we watched out for red-plumed helmets.

"Watch your three!" Uriah exclaimed, grunting as he got punched by someone from the red team.

I caught the edge of Wendy's sword with Epithymia, pushing upward, forcing the blade away from me. We both attacked in a deadly dance consisting of slashing, parrying, and lunging, but I managed to keep her away from the flag.

More members of the red team were coming our way, so I slammed the hilt of my sword at Wendy's chest, sending her stumbling back into a trip wire the Stoll's had rigged up, nasty green goop pouring from a bucket onto her head.

"You're our prisoner now!" Travis Stoll chirped happily, practically having appeared out of thin air.

"This way!" Connor finished, pausing to trip some more of our opponents as he and his brother led Wendy away.

It got to the point where Uriah and I were fighting five campers each at a time, meaning that if we so much as missed a beat, we were dead. By some miracle, the flag was still on its gold pole, shimmering in all its glory.

Just as we were about to be overrun, Chiron blew the whistle twice, signaling that the game was over. The red-plumed campers chucked their helmets to the ground in defeat, but I didn't stay behind to gloat, running towards the creek. A low growl flooded the woods, and I pushed myself harder, needing to be there when the hellhound attacked.

When I found Percy, Annabeth was commenting about the sword cut that had healed on his arm, asking him to step out of the water. The second Percy wasn't standing in the creek, he stumbled and would've landed on his face if Annabeth hadn't caught him.

"Oh, Styx," Annabeth swore, turning to Chiron. "This is _not_ good. I didn't want…I assumed it would be Zeus…"

Another howl tore itself through the forest, killing off any remaining cheers from the campers. We all were tense, preparing ourselves for an attack. Good thing, too, because when I finally saw the hellhound, I knew why Chiron had been so concerned in the book.

This thing had eyes redder than the lava Hephaestus used in his forges and fangs the size of daggers. This wasn't the biggest hellhound I'd ever witnessed, about the size of an adult male rhino, but the way its eyes glowed with intelligence, it sent shivers down my spine.

 _"_ _Stand ready! My bow!"_ Chiron shouted in Ancient Greek.

"Percy, run!" Annabeth yelled, drawing her sword and stepping in front of Percy.

It was useless. The hellhound leapt over Annabeth, its meaty paw swiping across Percy's chest, sending him stumbling back. I grabbed my daggers and threw it at the hellhound's neck alongside the arrows that Chiron and Cleo had shot, causing for it to fall at Percy's feet, melting into shadows moments later.

Percy's face was pale as he pressed a hand to his shredded armor, blood starting to seep through. Chiron's face was grim, his fingers white on the string of his bow as he scanned our surroundings, making sure that there weren't any other nasty surprises intent on making demigod delicatessen meat.

" _Di immortales!"_ Annabeth said. "That's a hellhound from the Fields of Punishment. They don't…they're not supposed to…"

"Someone summoned it," Chiron said. "Someone inside the camp."

Kyle walked over, the now blue banner still in his hand, his moment of glory forgotten.

Clarisse yelled, "It's all Percy's fault! Percy summoned it!" causing me to scoff at her pettiness. What exactly was Holly teaching her younger siblings?

"Be quiet, child," Chiron told her, clearly knowing that she was wrong.

"You're wounded," Annabeth told Percy, grimacing at the amount of blood that had seeped through his armor. "Quick, Percy, get in the water."

"I'm okay," Percy protested, his skin quickly paling from blood loss.

"No, you're not," she said. "Chiron, watch this."

Percy staggered into the creek, visibly sighing in relief as the water healed his wounds. I looked above his head, smiling softly to myself as a brilliant sea green trident appeared above his head. Around me, campers gasped, staring at the trident in a mixture of fear and awe.

"Look, I-I don't know why," Percy said, trying to apologize. "I'm sorry…"

Percy finally realized that we were all looking above his head, causing him to turn to Annabeth, who pointed up and said, "Percy, um…"

By now, the trident was starting to fade, but Percy looked up, staring at the symbol like he wasn't sure of what to make of it.

"Your father," Annabeth murmured. "This is _really_ not good."

"It is determined," Chiron announced, and I kneeled, the rest of the campers quickly following in suit. I heard some of the defeated Ares camper grumbling and glared them into silence.

"My father?" Percy was completely lost, having no clue what the trident meant or what the heck was going on in general.

"Poseidon," I said, cutting Chiron off, having this one line memorized for this very moment. "Earthshaker, Stormbringer, Father of Horses. Hail, Perseus Jackson, Son of the Sea God."

"Always this damn creek," I heard Holly mutter, shooting me a not so subtle glare. I gave her an innocent smile, waving her goodbye as she whispered something to Clarisse, the both of them storming off towards their cabin.

The rest of the campers started to head back to their cabins, whispering about Percy's claiming. As for Percy, he was still standing in the creek, still hopelessly lost. I told the Stoll brothers to cover for me for a bit, just until I was sure Percy was okay.

For once, they were completely serious, promising me that they'd get the kids tucked in before curfew. I thanked them, promising to cover for them the next time they got caught pulling a prank, which put splitting smiles on both of their faces.

Within two minutes, the only people still at the creek were Chiron, Annabeth, Percy, and me. Annabeth was glaring at Percy like he'd put a cockroach in her shirt – I would've said spider, but she would've killed him if that had been the case. Then, wordlessly, she turned around and ran off, reminding me painfully of the way she'd looked at me in fear after our first capture the flag game.

"Andy," Chiron warned me as I stepped into the creek, disregarding the feeling of the cold water seeping into my shoes and socks.

"I've got this, Chiron," I said, pursing my lips together as Percy kept staring at the spot above his head where the trident had been.

Chiron merely sighed, knowing better than to try to argue with me about this. He slung his bow across his chest and walked off, only pausing once to look at us before returning to go check on the rest of the campers.

"Andy, what's going on?" Percy asked miserably, sounding like he was about to start crying. I didn't blame him. This week was nothing if not an emotional rollercoaster for him.

"Annabeth explained about your father, right?" Percy nodded. "That was him claiming you as his son. Your father is Poseidon, the god of the seas."

"So when Mom said lost at sea…?"

"She wasn't exactly lying," I confirmed. "But Poseidon didn't want to leave your mother, Percy. Zeus forced him to or else he would've killed her – that's why he was never around."

"I remember a warm glow, maybe a smile," Percy said wistfully. "Could that have been him?"

"It probably was. Your father would do anything for your mother."

"Then why did he let her marry Smelly Gabe?" Percy shook his head in disbelief, his hands clenched into fists at his sides. "That's the reason Mom took us to Montauk; his friends found us."

"I'm going to kick their sorry behinds all the way to Hades," I growled, feeling my fingertips start to steam. I breathed in deeply, not wanting to torch this part of the forest again. "I'm sorry for the circumstances that brought you here, but this is a safe place for demigods."

"A hellhound just tried to kill me," Percy reminded me, gesturing to the general area where the shadows had consumed the overgrown dog's remains.

"Usually, this place is usually a safe place for demigods." Percy smiled at my amendment. "If you don't mind, could I see your wounds? I want to make sure they're not going to get infected."

"Since when have you been a doctor?" Percy joked, fumbling with his armor straps before finally asking me to help. I set his shredded breastplate aside, giving him time to lift up his destroyed shirt. Like I suspected, the cut marks had practically vanished completely from how long he'd been standing in the water, and the little silvery lines were starting to vanish as well, leaving him without those scars.

"Two years ago," I shrugged, pulling out a new Camp Half-Blood shirt from my bag and handing it to Percy, picking up his shredded clothing to throw away at the nearest trash can. "Wow, that's amazing."

"Phew, no scars. I'd hate for people to always ask me about those when I go to the beach."

"I imagine." I looked up, the last of the sun's rays starting to disappear below the horizon. "We should start heading back for the cabins. Cleaning harpies aren't nice to any demigod, head counselor or not, that breaks curfew."

Percy's eyes widened. "You mean I'm…?"

"Yup, you're the head counselor of cabin three. I'll help you move in tonight."

"That eager to get rid of me, huh?"

My eyes widened. "Of course not, Percy. It's just camp policies, that's all. Mr. D will punish my whole cabin if I don't set you up in your cabin."

"Okay," Percy agreed, albeit a little sadly. "At least I get a bed, right?"

I smiled, stepping out of the creek and gesturing for Percy to do the same. "You get a bed," I confirmed. After quickly moving his stuff over and helping him get comfortable, I gave Percy a hug, promising to talk to him in the morning.


	16. Chapter 16

As scripted, Percy, Annabeth, and Grover left for their quest three days later. Once again, I watched from the shadows, glaring at Kyle when he gave Grover those cursed magic sneakers. Again, I debated sending Kyle to the moon, but consoled myself with the fact that if things kept on track, he would be revered as a hero in the end. That was my hope, anyways.

When Annabeth chased after the out of control Grover, Percy said something quietly, before Chiron reached into his pocket, giving Percy Anaklusmos. Before Percy had joined his friends in the white van with Argus, Chiron had said, "Come out of the shadows, Andy." When I didn't move he sighed, "I know you're there, child."

My face had been a bright red as I stepped out from behind the tree, rubbing the back of my neck in embarrassment. "Really, Chiron?" I hissed, fiddling with my bracelet as I approached them.

"You were going to let me go without saying goodbye?" Percy had asked, the slightest bit of betrayal in his voice.

"Didn't I say goodbye to you last night?" I reminded him, still pulling him into a fierce hug anyways. Percy chuckled softly, burying his face into my shirt, like he was making a silent promise to himself that he'd come back alive if only to see me again. "Stay safe out there. And remember, I'm always there when you need me." I tapped the cloud charm around his neck one more time, hopping that maybe he'd finally understand.

He didn't.

Chiron and I waved at the departing van until it was out of sight, the both of us sighing at the thought of this quest. "If they are successful," Chiron said, placing a hand on my shoulder, gently leading me back into camp, "will you stay for the rest of the summer?"

"That's not up to me," I said miserably, fiddling with the hem of my shirt. "Aphrodite said I would, but the council as a whole haven't confirmed anything. Speaking of which, what is the latest development on this whole Master Bolt thing?"

Chiron suddenly aged decades in a few seconds. "Neither brother will back down. If the Master Bolt isn't returned by the summer solstice, there will be war."

"The high and mighty sons of you know who," I grumbled, causing for thunder to rumble across the clear sky. "Yeah, yeah, calm down, Zeus."

I looked over to see Chiron looking at me with a mixture of worry and concern, like he was afraid that Zeus was going to kill me right where I was standing for that comment. But I eased that fear after telling Chiron about my weird relationship with the Lord of the Skies.

Anyhow, my life was pretty normal for the next week, well, as normal as possible in a camp full of demigods. But exactly nine days after Percy had left for his quest, one day away from the summer solstice deadline, I received a message that nearly knocked me unconscious.

I'd been in the middle of trying to break up a fight between two sons of Hephaestus and Athena, who were arguing over the Zeus and Poseidon rivalry, when a voice burst into my head with so much force I collapsed onto my knees, the track mercilessly digging into my exposed flesh.

 _HELP US!_ Percy's voice begged. _ANDY, I NEED YOU!_

I clutched at my head, whimpering from how loudly Percy had yelled. Maybe I shouldn't have spent so much time trying to get him to understand the charm to tell him that he didn't need to scream to get my attention. It didn't help matters that I could sense how tightly he was gripping the stupid charm, that annoying shocking feeling running through my body like I was sitting in an electric chair.

"Please, don't yell," I said out loud, which sent the message both to Percy and the fighting campers, the latter of which were huddled over me in concern.

 _Sorry about that,_ Percy apologized, speaking at a normal volume.

"Ugh," I groaned at the throbbing migraine I now had. "Michael, take over for the rest of the day. I need to go to the infirmary."

The son of Hermes nodded, returning to the explanation of how the track and field events were supposed to work. I still held my head in my hands as I staggered back to the Hermes cabin, changing into some more quest worthy clothes. I also took an Advil and wrote a letter to the Stoll brothers, telling them that they were in charge until I got back.

I then melted into the shadows, letting them pull me towards Percy. When the shadows spit me out like day old gum, I landed on the shores of Santa Monica Bay, where an entire police force blocked all possible entrances off the beach.

I then ducked, the sound of a blade whizzing by my head following within a millisecond. I rolled out of the way, getting myself into a low crouch with my hand on my wrist, waiting to summon Epithymia.

"Ares?" I asked, watching the war god push Percy away from the ocean.

Annabeth and Grover grabbed my shoulders, dragging me back from the fight. I told them to fill me in, only stopping once to create a shield of water around us when Ares waved his hand in the direction of the cop cars, a wall of fire blocking any of them from interfering with the ongoing battle.

"Percy called for you to help him," Annabeth said, like I hadn't known that already. "So why aren't you helping him?"

I shook my head miserably. "I'm bound to my oath. I can't attack any Olympian unless it's for training or if I'm in serious danger."

"Then break it!"

I glared at the daughter of Athena. "Don't you think I'd like to? But I swore on the Styx, Annabeth, and I don't feel like suffering a fate worse than death. As much as I'd like to help, I can't unless Ares attacks me."

"Sorry about this then," Grover said, swiftly kicking me in the chest, pushing me right into the middle of the fight. I barely had time to jump over Ares' swing, moving away before the god accidently hurt me.

But apparently Percy had been listening to our conversation as well, because he got the water to pick me up by the ankles and fling me at the war god. I turned into mist before I could hit Ares, reappearing behind Annabeth and Grover again.

"Don't do that," I growled at the both of them, watching as Percy retreated into the water, forcing the ocean to still behind him. "I will not break my oath by you throwing me at Ares sword."

I've got to hand it to them, they had some guts.

When Ares drew his sword back, Annabeth and Grover shoved me towards the blade. I ducked the first time, but then Percy launched forward and Ares whirled around too quickly for me to do anything. I gasped as I felt the blade slice my chest open, blood blooming through my shirt.

But Ares and Percy were too consumed in their fight to do anything about me. Percy then feigned a blow to the right, and when Ares went to block, Percy went the other way, bringing Riptide down on the god's heel.

I tried to get to the water to heal myself, but then Ares yelled, all water in the surrounding area disappearing to leave a circle with a fifty foot diameter in the middle of the ocean. The earth trembled from the god's induced earthquake.

I clutched my chest, wincing in pain from the earthquake. Despite this, I took off my shirt and tied it tightly across the wound, applying pressure while staunching the bleeding. But Ares had cut deeply, and soon the orange fabric was soaked all the way through. And seeing that I was still kinda disoriented from my migraine and now from blood loss, I didn't think to get some ambrosia from my bag, which was still in charm form.

"You have made an enemy, godling," Ares told Percy, his body starting to glow with a harsh red light. "You have sealed your fate. Every time you raise your blade in battle, every time you hope for success, you will feel my curse. Beware, Perseus Jackson. Beware."

His body began to glow, but before he could disappear, I shouted, "Lord Ares!" with the little bit of strength I had left.

The glow died down and he whirled around, searching for my voice. He finally glance down, seeing me breathing heavily on the floor. I pointed weakly at his sword, and after seeing that his blade was indeed stained red, he realized that he had struck me.

"You broke your oath!" Ares roared, but I weakly shook my head.

"No," I said, my voice barely louder than a whisper at this point. "I was thrown into the fight against my will. I tried to avoid you, but I failed."

"Let me see!" Ares bent down and pressed his hand to my forehead, allowing for him to access my memories. After seeing how I had genuinely tried to stay out of it, Ares' anger faded, ignoring the interaction between Percy and the Furies behind him. "What can I do, kid? You're still a mortal. I can't interfere."

"The water," I gasped, tasting blood in my mouth. Great, he'd punctured my lungs. "Please, Lord Ares, throw me into the ocean."

He didn't think twice, scooping me up and throwing me as far as he could into the sea. I felt myself break through the waves, bubbles surrounding me as my eyes closed, my body sinking to the bottom of the sea.

* * *

When I woke up, I was in the infirmary in Apollo's palace. It was identical to the one back at camp, except there was more technology here and much less people. In fact, I was the only one in the infirmary, a steady beeping coming from my monitor being the only noise.

I tried sitting up but quickly regretted the idea after feeling my entire chest flare in pain, like I'd been tapped danced on by a bunch of ten-year-old girls. There was an IV in my arm, and I could taste the ambrosia that had been force fed to me while I was unconscious.

Apollo flashed in minutes later, a doctor's coat on top of his sky blue tank top and khaki beach shorts. He flipped through my chart, rolling over to my bedside in one of those wheelie chairs that were in every doctor's office. He jotted down my vitals onto a fresh sheet of paper before filing that away, too.

"You gave us quite the scare there, Andy," Apollo said, hanging up a bag of blood next to the saline. He then reached into his coat pocket and produced a crumpled cream colored envelope. "Hermes asked me to give this to you."

I tore into the envelope and pulled out a folded piece of red construction paper with the words _Get Better Soon_ written in messy Ancient Greek. On the inside was an apology from Ares about the whole near-death and accusation thing. I'd also found out that Hera had been the one to force him to write the letter, bringing a small smile to my face.

"So, what are you going to do to Ares?" Apollo asked as he listened to my heartbeat with his stethoscope.

I waited until he was done before saying, "Nothing. He didn't purposely attack me, so I don't blame him for anything that happened. Plus, he threw me into the water, which if I'm not wrong, probably saved my life."

"Right like always," Apollo said, much too cheerily for the statement I'd just made. "No, but in all seriousness, we were really worried about you."

"Really?" I tried to sit up again, but Apollo pushed me back down and gave me a look, as if daring me to try to sit up again. Thankfully, he raised the bed a little bit more so I wasn't lying down, making me feel more comfortable.

"Really. It's not every millennia we dedicate our time to a single hero, err, heroine. Plus, we all like you, whether we show it or not. You're always respectful and remind us that it's okay to be human at times." Apollo set down my chart and looked me in the eyes so intensely I thought I was going to spontaneously combust right there.

"You've helped me through some rough patches, Andy," Apollo admitted quietly, like he was afraid someone was going to overhear him. "When my own sister ignored my cries, you were there, completely open minded to what was going on. You didn't judge me or run away screaming, instead you waited until I was okay and always tried to cheer me up. That means a lot to me, something I'll never forget."

"You've helped me, too, Lord Apollo," I said truthfully. "Thank you for everything you've done for me."

Apollo gave me one of his blinding smiles, the one that you needed at least four sets of sunglasses on if you wanted to stare and keep your eyesight. He waved off my thanks and gave me a glass of nectar, warning me that I shouldn't consume anymore godly food any time soon unless I wanted to burn up.

"Noted." I slowly but surely drained the glass, keeping up our casual conversation while Apollo finished running all the necessary tests.

Later on, some of the other gods popped by to check in on me. Ares and Hera had been the first ones to arrive, excluding Apollo. Ares apologized again, giving me the chance to forgive him, which shocked both the god of war and his mother.

"I feel like I should remind you that you almost died, Andromeda," Hera said.

"I know," I replied. "And I forgive him anyways. My friends wanted my help, and I wanted to help, too. But I wasn't going to break my oath."

"Not even for your friends?"

"I'm a mortal," I reminded her. "That means any oath on the Styx that I break will haunt me for the rest of my life. While a god's punishment may befall on their children, I alone will bear the burden of breaking my oath, something I hope never comes to pass."

"Wow," Ares scoffed. "Respect, kid."

"Thanks, Lord Ares. And thank you for not killing me on sight."

"With the way this one gushes over you," Ares pointed at Hera, "I'd sooner be stripped of my immortality than face her wrath."

"Careful what you wish for," Apollo grumbled, having experienced mortality twice before.

Artemis visited as well, but only for a couple minutes, more like a reassurance that I was still alive rather than actually caring about my physical state. I knew her reason for the cold shoulder, so I didn't say anything when she disappeared literally a minute after seeing that I was awake.

My last visitor was Poseidon, who showed up after Apollo gave me a lunch that consisted of a ham and cheese sandwich, an apple, a granola bar, and a bottle of water. He'd said Hestia made the sandwich, which made me more confident that I wasn't going to die of food poisoning. Trust me, I wouldn't eat anything Apollo made. You had a better chance of getting botulism and E. coli than actually enjoying his food.

Anyhow, Poseidon didn't say anything for a long time, merely watching me eat my lunch, which I thought was extremely creepy. Not as creepy as watching me sleep, but still. I was halfway through my apple when Poseidon finally said, "You shouldn't have interfered."

I choked on the bite of apple in my mouth, forcing myself to swallow as I tried to regain my breath. I'd expected him to say a lot of things, mainly negative, but I hadn't been expecting _that._

"If a friend of mine calls me," I said lowly, "I show up, simple as that. And I didn't interfere. If I recall correctly, it was Annabeth, Percy, and Grover that put me in the way of Ares' sword."

"Then you shouldn't have shown up at all," Poseidon growled, his eyes darkening, the way the ocean did before a storm. "You should've left Perseus to defend himself."

"He did," I argued, taking note of the fact that he had called Percy by his full name. "He bested Ares in combat at the age of twelve with practically no training. I did nothing to help him."

Poseidon's eyes then started to glow, but they were no longer sea green. Now solid gold irises replaced the green, and the way the god was smiling made me uneasy.

"Pity," Poseidon said, though his voice had changed, sounding like there were multiple copies of him, the same way that the Oracle of Delphi sounded when she spoke a prophecy. "I thought you were going to come and visit dear old Dad."

"Your plan failed," I growled. "And I will never be your daughter."

Poseidon lunged forward, pushing down on my bandages with one hand, causing me to bite my lip. I wasn't going to show Kronos any weakness if I could help it. He then ripped off the thin hospital gown I was dressed in, revealing the thick white bandages and my bra. Poseidon's hand gently ran down the bandages before yanking them off, revealing the angry red scar that was running up and down underneath it.

The wound had black stitches running its entire length, and the surrounding skin was still red and tender. I didn't really want to know the extent of my injuries, but if the bruising around my ribcage was anything to go by, I'd guess I'd suffered a punctured lung and severed ribs, and who knows, maybe my heart had gotten hurt as well.

I bit the inside of my lip harder when Poseidon expertly undid the knot holding my stitches closed. My hand had slid underneath the mattress, where Apollo had left me an emergency button in case something happened. I was also praying to Salina, wishing that Poseidon would regain possession of his own body.

When Poseidon went to start removing my stitches, I spat in his face and punched him square in the nose. The god growled in anger and went to attack, but I rolled out of bed, grabbing my saline and blood off the metal pole before taking off, ignoring the fire in my chest as I ran, Poseidon hot on my heels.

I was far too weak to teleport myself away, so I kept running, praying that Apollo would show up soon. Tyche must've been listening, because Apollo appeared right in front of me, glaring at me like I was crazy.

"Duck!" I shouted, practically tackling the god when his wheelie chair was thrown over our heads, crashing into the wall.

"What's going on?" Apollo demanded, his bow and quiver appearing on his back and golden hunting knives glowing in their sheaths at his waist.

"Poseidon's trying to kill me," I muttered. "Father's possessed Poseidon, and now he wants me dead."

"Because you didn't join him?"

"Pretty much."

Apollo sighed. "And here I am thinking I have father issues." He notched an arrow and released it at Poseidon, sending the sea god stumbling back as he clutched his chest.

Apollo then waved a hand over me, and the next thing I know, I was standing in the middle of the throne room in nothing but my bra and some gray running shorts, my bags of blood and saline still in my hands while a needle was still in my arm.

"Heavens me! Have you never heard of clothing, Adriana?" Dionysus scowled, covering his eyes with his wine magazine.

"Thank Poseidon for that," I grumbled, hobbling over to the hearth, my chest still aching. A little bit of blood had started to seep from the edges of the stitches, and I swore, afraid that the stitches were going to tear completely.

Hestia didn't say anything, handing me a dark blue nightgown and helping me slide it on, what with the tube sticking out of my arm and all. She also pressed a glowing hand to my chest, humming a peaceful melody under her breath. The pain and swelling around the stitches died down, much to my relief.

"Thank you," I'd said, slumping down against the hearth, relishing the heat the fire was giving off.

Apollo flashed into the throne room about twenty minutes later, his hands covered in ichor up to his wrists and a nasty cut gracing his perfect face. He scanned the throne room before finally finding me, telling me to lay down as he pulled out a first aid kit and slapped on a fresh pair of gloves.

"What happened to Poseidon?" Hestia asked, watching with a slight frown on her face as Apollo redid the knot, pulling tight enough that I winced in pain.

"Father Time thought it would be a good idea to kill his daughter through his son," Apollo said bitterly, checking that everything was in place before summoning a wheelchair for me to sit in.

Hestia sighed sadly. "That sounds like something Father would do."

"How long have I been out, if you don't mind my asking?"

The two gods glanced at each other, like they were uneasy about my question. They had a silent conversation, as if debating who was going to be the one to break the news to me. Luckily for them, they didn't have to say anything as Dionysus said, "A little over a month and a half."

"Have I missed the last day of camp?" I asked the wine god.

"Unfortunately not. The last day of the summer session is tomorrow."

I felt my eyes widen. "Lord Apollo, I have to go back to camp, if only for tomorrow."

"You're in no condition to go anywhere, Andromeda," Apollo said sternly, sounding like his forty-year-old self. "Especially when Poseidon nearly tore your stitches open again. Not to mention the fact that you've been in a coma for six weeks. Getting hit by a god's symbol of power takes a lot out of the person if they survive the wound. It's a miracle you're still breathing on your own, Andromeda, I don't know how else to tell you."

"Please," I begged, my voice cracking from lack of use. "I had a vision about one of my friends. They're going to die if they face this threat alone."

Apollo's stern expression didn't change. "That's something that the Fates have ordained, then, and that means there's nothing you can do about it. If anything, all you're doing is opening up the chance for you to die as well."

"It's worth it if it means he gets to live."

"No, and that is final," Apollo announced. "I managed to get Father Time out of Poseidon's head, so you will be coming back with me to the infirmary to finish healing there. However, I'll let you contact your friends at camp via Iris-messaging."

"Thank you," I said, trying and failing to hide my bitterness in my voice. At least I got the Iris-messages.

That night, after Apollo promised me some privacy during my Iris-messages, I called Chiron and told him to prepare anti-venom for a pit scorpion sting. Unsurprisingly, he asked me why he needed to make such a concoction.

"A dream," I told him. "Tomorrow, someone is going to be stung by a pit scorpion. I don't know who it is, but they will die without the anti-venom."

"I'll begin right away," Chiron said gravely, scratching at his beard thoughtfully. "Would you mind giving me an update on Olympus? Ever since Percy's come back, Mr. D has refused to tell us why he was called back."

I rubbed the back of my neck sheepishly. "Yeah, that was because of me. Ares hit me in a fight at the Santa Monica Beach, and since it was a cut from his symbol of power, I was in a coma for six weeks. I literally just woke up today and have already been attacked by Father."

Chiron's eyes glinted dangerously. "What did he do?" he said in his steely calm voice, something you only ever heard when he was really angry.

"Possessed Poseidon," I said. "Apollo had to take him down with some serious tranquilizers. He's still sleeping off the effects at the moment."

"But he is free?"

"According to Apollo, he is." I sighed, tugging at my hair in frustration. "This is crazy, Chiron, absolute craziness. He can't be this powerful already, right?"

"I believe his subconscious has left the pit, but performing acts such as possessing one of his own children must take a huge toll on his strength. As for a body, he is still completely dismembered."

"Beautiful," I muttered, picturing the mess that must've been made after Kronos was chopped up. "Do you think he'll try to possess us the way he did to Poseidon?"

"Anything is possible with our father," Chiron said, wrinkling his nose in disgust. "But we shouldn't worry about that right now. Thank you for the warning about the pit scorpion. I'm sure the victim will be very thankful for you."

"Don't mention this to them, please."

Chiron merely nodded, having learned about my secretive ways by now. "I hope to see you at camp very soon."

"Same here," I laughed, wincing when I felt pain flare up in my chest. "I'll see you around, Chiron."

I then slashed through the rainbow, praying that everything would turn out okay tomorrow.


	17. Chapter 17

I completely disregarded Apollo's orders to rest for the next eighteen hours, pacing back and forth around the infirmary like a madwoman, muttering my thoughts aloud to myself. He probably thought I'd lost my mind, but it was more of a way to keep myself distracted from what was going on at camp.

As I passed by a mirror, I saw dark circles under my eyes after staying up all night, my face pale from my time in a coma. My hair was a frizzy mess, standing up around my head like a lion's mane despite the fact that I had a ponytail on.

I knew Apollo was on the verge of restraining me to a bed, his eye twitching in irritation every time he came into check on me, only to see me up and about. I was pretty sure I had worn out a path on the floor with all my pacing.

From the infirmary window, I saw the sun beginning to sink in the sky. Although the room I was in smelled like bleach and hand sanitizer, I could imagine the scent of the strawberries baking in the summer heat back at camp. I imagined Argus and the harpies helping load up the luggage of the kids leaving camp into the three vans we owned, ready to drop them off at the bus stop or train station.

I'd missed six weeks of camp, which I was already miffed about, but I was more annoyed about the fact that I'd been prohibited from leaving. Apollo had been so afraid of my disappearing that he clamped a Celestial bronze anklet around my ankle, basically a godly equivalent of those tracking devices they gave people on house arrest.

If I so much as stepped over the threshold of the infirmary, the thing would light up and beep incessantly, only stopping when Apollo punched in a code onto his phone that would reset the anklet. The anklet also weakened my powers to the point where I couldn't escape, so any form of traveling was out of the equation.

Seeing that I wanted to leave as soon as possible, I spent a lot of time in the shower, hoping that the water would help expedite my healing. It definitely helped, but since I wasn't a full-blooded child of a water deity and the anklet was dampening my powers, the most the water could do is strengthen the skin underneath my stitches, preventing the chance of them tearing.

Then, a lightbulb went off in my head. I ducked into the shower again, as it was the only place in the infirmary where none of the cameras recorded. I turned on the water, twisting the showerhead to spray the wall instead of rain down on me as I bent down to examine the anklet.

Hephaestus had taught me about all kinds of tracking devices and godly traps, like the throne trap that kept Hera pinned to her chair for a few months. I reached into my bag, my fingers closing around the toolkit Hephaestus had given me for my fifteenth birthday.

The anklet was the exact same design that the mortals used, the only difference being the material being used. With a screwdriver and some wire cutters, I managed to bypass all the complicated wiring responsible for tracking my every movement. Once that was done, I kept fiddling with the anklet until the head of my screwdriver struck a piece of metal, sending a rush of strength through my body.

Ah, so this must be what's dampening my powers, I thought, drying my hands on my dress before returning to disassembling the anklet. After some struggling, a little black stone came out, clattering onto the floor.

"Andy?" I heard Apollo ask, causing me to curse internally. I quickly hid my equipment and bad before readjusting the shower head, letting it soak me from head to toe. "Are you taking _another_ shower?"

"So what if I am?" I sassed back.

"That's the seventh one today."

"It helps with the pain."

"Oh, okay. I'll give you some privacy." By privacy, Apollo meant he'd leave the room, watching from the other side of the glass until he saw me again.

With my wire cutters, I began to cut the rest of the wires, careful not to nick the large black wire that I identified as the tamper alarm. Now that the black stone was out and the tracking device had been disabled, I flexed my hands, feeling my powers hum under the surface of my skin, tired of not being used in so long.

Apollo would have my hide for this later, but I pictured myself turning into mist, disappearing amongst the vapor in the air. I shouted in elation as I felt myself travel down to Earth, taking a trip on a wind current as I let my molecules get blown in the direction of Camp Half-Blood.

I touched down in the forest, the creek visible from where I was. Wrinkling my nose in disgust at the dress I was wearing, I pulled out some spare clothes from my bag and changed, careful as I tugged my shirt over my head. Off in the distance, I heard two people talking to each other, not exactly being the most subtle as they walked towards the creek.

I crouched behind some of the bushes, thanking the dryads for letting my use them as a cover. Despite never revealing themselves, the way that the leaves on the bushes suddenly perked up let me know they'd heard me and were happy about being acknowledged.

Kyle finally came into view, holding a sword that bronze on one side and steel on the other. With a start, I realized I was looking at Backbiter, the sword that would later be remade into my father's scythe. Percy trailed behind the older boy, the both of them settling down beside the creek.

In his hand, Kyle had a six-pack of Cokes, handing Percy one of the cans before opening one for himself. The two were talking like they were lifelong friends, until Kyle finally said something that had Percy tilting his head to the side in confusion.

Every nerve in my body was screaming to attack, to kill Kyle and be done with it all, but that couldn't happen. I literally couldn't move, my limbs feeling like they were pinned under tons of rock, preventing me from acting even if I wanted to.

The Fates, I thought to myself, paling as their conversation grew more and more violent. Kyle was pacing back and forth now, visibly shouting as his hands flailed around him in his rage. Backbiter glinted dangerously in the afternoon sunlight, displaying truly how deadly the blade could be.

Then, Kyle snapped his fingers, and a ring of fire burned on the ground, a little blue scorpion crawling out of the flames. I glared at the scorpion, knowing that this was the infamous pit scorpion, whose venom was strong enough to kill ten men.

Percy said something I couldn't make out, not even flinching as the pit scorpion hopped onto his pant leg, slowly crawling up. Kyle shouted one more time before giving Percy one last cold sneer, slashing Backbiter in the air as he vanished in a ripple of shadows.

Once Kyle had disappeared, Percy calmly swatted the pit scorpion away with his hand and cut it in half with Riptide. I winced when I saw the stinger dig into Percy's palm, but he didn't seem to notice the sting until after capping Riptide, his face turning ashy as he reached out for the creek.

The numbness in my limbs finally let up, and I got up to my feet, hooking my arms underneath Percy's shoulders as I left his feet dangling in the water. By now, I had a little less than forty-five seconds to get Percy back to Chiron before the poison reached his heart.

"Help!" I pleaded with the nature spirits around me. A naiad and a dryad came out from the creek and a tree, respectively, each of them grabbing one of Percy's legs before the three of us booked it to the Big House, shoving past any camper that got in our way.

"Percy!" Annabeth exclaimed when we ran past her, quickly joining our trio. "I'll go get Chiron!" She pushed ahead, sprinting to the Big House.

By the time we'd arrived at the porch, Chiron was already waiting for us, a glass vial full of a milky white substance in his hands. We set Percy down, and I held his head up for Chiron to pour the anti-venom into his mouth. Percy's skin had been turning gray, and the wound around his hand was a sickly shade of green, nasty yellow pus oozing from the sting.

Annabeth stood off to the side, looking a little green herself as she held a hand over her mouth in shock. I turned to thank the naiad and dryad for helping me before scooping Percy up into my arms, carrying him downstairs to the more private infirmary.

Chiron was talking to Annabeth, telling her about how pit scorpion venom worked, while I set Percy into the same cot he had slept in after his fight with the Minotaur. Under Chiron's supervision, I drained the wound of its pus and wrapped so many bandages around his hand that it could serve as a weapon. Chiron then came down into the sick room – in wheelchair form, of course – and situated himself at the foot of Percy's cot.

Percy was still an ashen shade of gray, but when Annabeth began forcing nectar down his throat, he visibly improved. In a display of amazing resilience, Percy woke up fifteen minutes later, blinking blearily as his eyes came into focus on the glass of nectar in Annabeth's hand. She was dabbing at his head with a damp cloth when he woke up, giving Annabeth one of his lopsided grins that promised trouble.

"Here we are again," he said weakly, taking another sip of his nectar.

"You idiot," Annabeth hissed, but in reality, I knew she was really happy that Percy hadn't died. "You were green and turning gray when Andy brought you here. If it wasn't for Chiron's healing…"

"Now, now," Chiron said, catching Percy's attention. "Percy's constitution deserves some of the credit."

"You're telling me," I scoffed, walking to stand next to Chiron. "I've never seen anyone wake up fifteen minutes after being stung by a pit scorpion."

"How are you feeling?" Chiron asked Percy, a tight smile on his face, looking like a teacher who had stayed up all night to grade papers. And seeing that he had just posed as a Latin teacher for the past year, I wouldn't put it past him.

"Like my insides have been frozen, then microwaved." Percy took another sip of his nectar, Annabeth supporting the bottom of the glass so that it didn't fall out of his hand.

"Apt, considering that was pit scorpion venom. Now you must tell me, if you can, exactly what happened."

Between sips of nectar, Percy told us everything leading up to Kyle's sudden disappearance from Camp Half-Blood. Annabeth and Chiron shared a pained expression, like they had been expecting something like this for some time now.

"I knew I should've kept a closer eye on him," I said through gritted teeth. "Of course a child abuser would side with Father."

"Child abuser?" Percy asked, the words sounding foreign in his mouth.

" _Father?"_ Annabeth demanded, ignoring my first statement. Her gray eyes were clouded over, the incoming storm quickly moving in. Within seconds her hand was at her belt, waiting to draw her dagger. "You're a traitor?"

I held up my hands in surrender. "When have I ever betrayed you, Annabeth? Last I checked, you were the reason I've been in a coma for the past six weeks. I can't even tell you the amount of trouble I'm going to get in for my being here! But I came anyways, because I had a dream that someone was going to need my help today."

"Chiron, is she telling the truth?"

The kindly old centaur sighed, motioning for Annabeth to stand down. "Andy has never lied to me before, Annabeth, not once in the five years that I've known her. I trust her as much as I trust you."

Annabeth didn't seem too happy about the comparison, scowling at me. I thought I'd earned her trust a long time ago, but I guess not. As for Percy, the poor kid's head was on a swivel, watching the ongoing argument like a ping-pong match.

"I promised to always be there for you, Annabeth," I reminded her softly, taking a step in her direction. "Haven't I upheld that?"

Too prideful to reply to me, she turned her back to me. "Where were you when Luke and Thalia died, when I screamed for you to save them?"

"I'm not a god, Annabeth. I did everything that I could to save them."

She whirled around, her eyes glinting dangerously. "So you turned them into a tree?! They could've gone to Elysium! They could've been happy together!"

"Um, bad time to ask, I know, but who are Luke and Thalia?"

Annabeth turned to face Percy, who had flinched under the weight of her glare. I gave her a look, one that said to stand down. She shook her head miserably, pulling at her blonde curls.

"They were friends of ours," I said tersely, knowing that Annabeth avoided that conversation like the plague whenever possible. "And as for my father, I detest him with every fiber of my being. I will fight to my last breath to defend Olympus if it ever comes to that."

"And we should hope not," Chiron finally interrupted, halting the conversation before I said too much. "As for our missing camper situation, I must go report this to Olympus at once."

"Kyle is out there right now," Percy insisted, trying to get up. "I have to go after him."

Chiron shook his head. "No, Percy. The gods-"

"Won't even _talk_ about Kronos," Percy snapped, looking royally pissed off. "Zeus declared the matter closed!"

"Don't take it personally," I said, pinching the bridge of my nose at my brother's theatrics. "Zeus thinks putting things on the back burner will make the problem disappear. Thank the gods for Athena and Artemis."

"Percy, I know this is hard. But you must not rush out for vengeance. You aren't ready."

The son of Poseidon slumped back into his cot, glancing down at his club-like hand. He closed his eyes and sighed. "Chiron…your prophecy from the Oracle…it was about Kronos, wasn't it? Was I in it? And Annabeth and Andy?"

I shivered and made the three claws across my heart before pushing my hand outward. Chiron glanced up at the ceiling, like he was waiting for it to collapse on top of us. "Percy, this isn't my place-"

"You've been ordered not to talk to me about it, haven't you?"

"It's not the worst thing in the world," I said. "Knowing too much of your future is never a good thing, trust me on that."

The two other demigods in the room gave me a wary look, clearly uncomfortable with me now that they knew the truth about my father. I shrugged, brushing off their concern. One day, I'd finally get to explain everything to them, but that day was not today.

"Oh, Annabeth, they're waiting for you when you're ready," Chiron said, ending the conversation once and for all.

"Who?" Percy asked.

"My family," Annabeth replied sheepishly, nervously twirling the gold ring on her necklace. She was sporting a new bead – pitch black with a sea green trident in the middle. I'd have to ask Chiron about getting the bead before I left. "I-I took your advice, Percy. I'm going to try to spend the year with them."

"That's great!" Percy smiled, genuinely glad for Annabeth.

"Promise me you won't do anything stupid without me? Or at least send me an Iris-message?"

"Trouble usually ends up finding me."

Annabeth smiled and gave Percy a quick side hug before giving me a meek wave, probably trying to atone for her earlier accusation without outright hurting her pride. She dashed up the steps and left, heading towards the border where her family would be.

Percy set down his empty glass of nectar and pulled his best puppy dog eyes on me, going so far as to even pout. I rolled my eyes and asked, "What do you want?"

"Take me outside," he requested.

I winced. "That isn't the best idea, Percy."

" _Please,_ Andy," Percy begged, dragging out the e sound until I finally relented.

I helped him out to the porch of the Big House, his body leaning heavily on mine as he struggled to walk. Stupid pit scorpion, I thought to myself, letting Percy lean against the railing on the porch, the both of us watching Annabeth join her family at the border. The sun was beginning to set, filling the valley with the last golden rays of the day.

"So," I said, breaking the silence, "have you decided what you're going to do?"

"I think I'm going home," Percy said with conviction, smiling softly to himself. "I finally have a chance to live with Mom for the year. I'll definitely come back for the summer, though. This place already feels like a second home to me."

"Good, that's what it should feel like." I smiled, taking in the warmth from the sun as it started to sink below the horizon. "You might want to get going, though. The cleaning harpies aren't nice to stragglers."

"Walk me to the border?"

"Of course. Say hi to your mom for me, will you?"

Percy smiled brightly, his arm still wrapped around my waist as I picked up his duffel bag that Argus had brought over, slinging the strap across my shoulder. When we got to the border, Percy was no longer staggering, managing to walk on his own normally, much to his joy.

"See you next year?" I asked hopefully, smiling softly at the leather cord that now rested on Percy's neck.

"You bet!" Percy gave me a final hug, accidently squishing my stitches. I stifled a gasp, still hugging the younger boy. He then revealed the cloud charm on the silver chain, saying, "I won't forget that you're always right here."

"Just don't yell," I laughed, causing him to turn bright red. "Now go. Argus is waiting for you."

With a final wave, Percy ran towards the van, pulling the door shut as he had been the last camper to be brought into the city. Now that the summer session was over, camp was way too quiet for my liking, the sounds of crickets chirping and reed pipes drowning out any conversations.

Inside the Hermes cabin, only eight of us remained, meaning that we all got bunks for the time being. Connor and Travis had been excited about that, something about more room for their prank layouts. Oh, well, I figured just stay out of their way, and I'll be okay. Thankfully, they didn't ask about my sudden disappearance, just saying hi before returning to their schemes.

I ran into Cleo at dinner, who had been the one to give me the new bead for the summer. I smiled softly to myself as I undid the knot on the leather cord and slid the bead on, something I'd never had the opportunity of doing at camp before.

"My dad's going to kill you," Cleo told me after dinner, the both of us sitting on the floor of the dining pavilion. "If you think we're overbearing about our patients, Dad is the king of overbearing."

"Don't remind me." I sighed, rolling the black stone in between my index finger and thumb. "What _is_ this anyways?"

Cleo tried to grab the stone but yelped when it started glowing purple in proximity to her flesh. We both glanced at each other, and Cleo gave me her arm, wanting to see what the stone would do. Only when it was about to touch her skin did the stone glow, other than that, it passed itself off as a normal black stone.

I tried putting the stone next to a flower, and sure enough, once the stone was in close enough proximity, the flower began to wilt and die. I touched the flower, causing it to straighten up and bloom again, as if nothing had ever happened.

"Woah," the two of us said, staring at the stone.

"Maybe it's a type of metal only children of Hades can use?" Cleo offered, just as bewildered as I was.

"I've never seen Stygian iron do this," I murmured, finally pocketing the stone into my bag. "Maybe it's because I've never tried to let anyone else use it."

Cleo arched an eyebrow. "You have a weapon made of Stygian iron? Since when?"

I tugged on two of the charms on my bracelet, pitch black hunting knives appearing in my hand. They were longer than a dagger, about twenty inches compared to a dagger's twelve, giving me a longer reach. The Stygian iron was dark as a nightmare, sucking in all the warmth around the blades.

"Since I ran into some spartoi on a mission," I answered, turning the knives back into charms. "The dead _really_ hate Stygian iron."

Cleo shuddered, rubbing her arms to regain the warmth that she'd lost to my knives. "I forget about all the things you've seen sometimes. I would never be brave enough to work for the gods."

"Not like I have much of a choice." I sighed, messing with my hands. "As much as I've earned some of their respect, they still fear me. I would never turn my back to Olympus."

"Why would they fear you?" Cleo asked. "Aren't you still unclaimed?"

"Yeah, but since they don't know how I have all these powers, they're afraid."

"No one has any answers?" I shook my head. "Not even Athena?"

"No. All any of them have are theories, none of them good."

"Well, that sucks," Cleo said bluntly, making me chuckle softly. "Any news on your mom?"

"Nothing. It's as if she never existed in the first place." I kicked the marble in annoyance. "No one knows who she is."

"Maybe your father did."

I scoffed. "I'd have to know who the deadbeat was first. Even then, I don't think I'd trust him. Don't you think five years is long enough for a sign?"

I really shouldn't have said anything. The next thing I know, Cleo gasped, scrambling away from me like she'd just seen a ghost. She didn't say anything, merely pointing above my head like I was about to get struck down by lightning.

Looking up, I saw the same golden symbol of a scythe and an hourglass crossed together in an X shape appear over my head. Internally, I was seething, wanting to knock the smug smile that I knew he had off his face. However, I had to keep up the act that I had no idea what was going on, so I stared at the symbols with a horrified expression, which honestly wasn't that hard. It's not like I announced my darkest secret to everyone I met.

I swore under my breath, swatting at the light above my head, glaring at it when it stubbornly stayed. Luckily for me, Cleo was the only one around, her face white as a sheet as the gold glow finally began to subside.

"Your father," she spluttered, pinching her arm to make sure this was really happening. "It's-"

"The Titan King," I finished for her, growling in disgust. "I'm related to a cannibal."

"That explains your powers," Cleo said, her blue eyes still wide with fear. "They match up with his children, the eldest Olympians. I bet you have control over time, too."

"Do you hate me?" I hated being so abrupt, but the reason I kept my father's identity a secret was so I didn't scare everyone off. Cleo was one of my oldest friends, and it would break my heart to know that she never wanted to see me again because of the fear of my father.

To my surprise, Cleo appeared to be genuinely offended, a look of hurt on her faces. "Do I ha – don't be ridiculous, Andy! You didn't get any say in who your father is. How can I possibly hate you? Ever since we've met, you've been nothing but kind and generous, everything _he_ is not. You're still the same person, the girl who's been my best friend for five years."

I pulled Cleo in for a tight hug, which she returned with just as much fervor. Honestly, it was like we were having a competition on who could break the other's ribs first, but I pulled away once the pain of my stitches were too great. Cleo looked confused, but after I told her what happened, she nodded in understanding.

"You should get back to Olympus," Cleo muttered, feeling my stitches through my shirt. "I don't want Dad to kill you."

"He won't kill me," I reassured her, "but he'll ground me indefinitely. So if we don't see each other for another five years…"

Cleo punched my shoulder, saying, "Don't think like that. Plus, even if we don't see each other in person, we can always IM."

"Very true." I gave her one more hug, scowling as I heard thunder rumble on a cloudless night. I guess Zeus found out about my little escapade. "Until we meet again."

"So formal," Cleo joked, rolling her eyes. "But ditto anyways."

I allowed myself to turn into mist again, already dreading the punishment I'd be receiving for defying Apollo.

* * *

Honestly, that could've gone much worse, I thought to myself as I walked through the Underworld, tossing Cerberus the largest red rubber ball I had.

The three Furies flew overhead, particularly over the Fields of Punishment, their fiery whips causing for damned souls to scream out in agony. Personally, I hoped that Smelly Gabe was amongst one of the residents in Punishment after everything he'd done to Percy.

That night Percy had first joined the Hermes cabin, I sifted through his memories, something I could do because of Hera. I'd seen how violent Smelly Gabe could be when he was extremely drunk, treating Percy like his personal punching bag. I watched as Smelly Gabe cut Percy with broken glass and knives, as he bound the little boys hands with rope so tightly that circulation was cut off, making it impossible for him to escape. I heard every degrading and unflattering name he called Percy, which only served in destroying his self-confidence.

For that, Smelly Gabe could go to Tartarus for all I care.

I realized I stopped to glare at the Fields of Punishment for too long, so I continued walking, ignoring the hissing shades as they dissipated from their proximity to living flesh. I'd been here so many times that the skeleton guards didn't even tense, merely chattering their teeth together in a way that I've learned means, "Come in."

I walked briskly through the dark and winding corridors of Hades' palace, stopping once I made it to the throne room. As I'd expected, Hades was waiting on his throne, a blank look on his face, almost like he was bored.

"So, they've sent you here," Hades mused, drumming his fingers against his armrest. "What did you do this time?"

"Leave Apollo's infirmary," I shrugged, tugging on my jacket to keep out the chills.

"What did you do this time?" Hades repeated, causing me to smile. Despite being confined to the Underworld, Hades was never out of the loop, catching up on gossip from the dead. This meant he knew about every time I'd ever gotten hurt, much to my dismay.

"Got nicked by Ares' sword."

"I believe a better word is slashed. You nearly died a couple times, you know." I shrugged again, earning an exasperated sigh from the Lord of the Underworld.

He and I had had a rocky start, but over time, we grew pretty close. Plus, he'd also visited me in a dream during my time at camp to tell me that he appreciated my trying to defend him in front of his brothers. If that action didn't scream progress, I don't know what else could.

"Any missions you got for me?" I asked, bouncing up and down on the balls of my feet. Apollo had finally taken out the stupid stitches, figuring that it'd be better to fully heal me himself rather than wait for me to take it easy. Because let's be honest here, we all knew that wasn't going to happen anytime soon.

"Nico and Bianca," he said at last, a melancholy gleam in his eyes. "I'd like for you to go check on them for me."

"They're still going to stay in the Lotus Hotel?"

"For now." Hades gripped his armrest so tightly that his knuckles went white. Well, whiter seeing that this guy could stand next to milk and still be paler. "I'm afraid bringing them out now will only incur Zeus' wrath, especially after he got so worked up over that infernal sea spawn. But fear not, my children will get to leave one day, and I'll make sure you're the one to do it."

"I'm honored, my lord. Is there anything you'd like me to tell them?"

"As of now, no. They know that it is I that sent you, correct?"

"Yes."

"Good, that's all they need to know for the moment. Let me know how it went the second you get back."

"Of course."

Sensing that I'd been dismissed, I shadow-traveled out of the throne room, heading for the Lotus Hotel and Casino, where I'd get to catch up with the di Angelo siblings once again.


	18. Chapter 18

When I dropped onto the sidewalk in Vegas, a gift box in my hand, no one paid me much attention. Trust me, there were much weirder things happening in the middle of the street than a girl walking out of the shadows.

I stared at the box in my hand, sure that it hadn't been there when I left the Underworld. But I saw the little tag that read "Father" in Hades' elegant handwriting, and I knew he'd given me the box. Judging from its size, I figured there was a gift for both Nico and Bianca in there.

As I walked into the Lotus Hotel and Casino, I was immediately greeted by one of the bellhops, dressed in a green suit with gold epaulettes, reminding me of Esteban Julio Ricardo Montoya De la Rosa Ramirez from _The_ _Suite Life of Zack and Cody._

Yes, I committed his entire name to memory.

No, I'm not sorry about that.

Anyways, the Esteban look-alike smiled at me, revealing his perfect teeth. I want in on these guys' dental plan, seriously. He even tipped his green cap at me before producing a silver and green Lotus Cash Card from his jacket. Luckily for me, I'd been here enough times that he didn't need to say anything, merely stepping aside and gesturing to the game room behind him.

Despite having been here a couple times, the game room managed to take my breath away. There were five different water slides than ran the length of the entire room, which was about the size of five football stadiums put back to back. Every type of video game filled the floor, something that would've made every single Chuck E. Cheese and Dave and Busters green with envy.

There was a huge dance floor, too, the floor itself made of these white bricks that lit up in time with the music's beat. Pressed against the wall were more classic card games, each semicircle taking up a good chunk of space. Everywhere you went, you'd bump into people dancing or playing games, generally having a good time, completely ignorant about the fact that time was speeding by outside the building.

I promise you, in the fifteen minutes that I've been here, a day has already passed by in the mortal world.

Clutching to the box so it wouldn't get knocked out of my hand, I jostled my way through the crowd, making sure no one spilled anything on the nice wrapping paper. I smiled down at the wrapping paper, surprised that Hades had actually taken an idea of mine to heart.

See, the first time I'd been sent to bring the di Angelos a gift from their father, Hades had wrapped the box in blood red wrapping paper with the Furies covering the paper, their fiery whips creating a pattern that resembled barbed wire.

"Do you think they'll open something that looks like this?" I had asked Hades, staring at the wrapping paper in horror and disgust. If someone gave me a present wrapped like that, I'd dispose of it ASAP.

"Do children not like Furies anymore?" Hades asked, genuinely curious. I bit back a laugh at the look of his face. He had been sure that he'd picked out the perfect wrapping paper.

"Not necessarily, my lord. Maybe something a little less frightening, perhaps?"

"And what do you propose?"

"Cartoon ghosts?" I shrugged. "You can't make them that scary, and it still represents you."

Hades has stared at me like I was crazy. I tried to explain the concept of Casper to him, which only resulted in a severely confused god and my trying not to burst out laughing. He'd then sighed and snapped his fingers, the paper melting into a generic stripe pattern, much to his chagrin.

The box I currently carried had the ghost wrapping paper I'd suggested, the ghost itself resembling the ghost emoji, which didn't exactly make sense in this timeline since the iPhone wouldn't be invented and sold until next year.

Whatever, it's not like I'd be able to use a phone anyways, I thought to myself as I got into the elevator, pressing the button to go up to the penthouse suite. Nothing but the best for the last remaining children of Hades.

I walked out of the elevator, directly into the living room, just like in the show _Jesse._ If you haven't noticed by now, I literally grew up with Disney channel back home. Anyhow, the living room was set up basically the same way, except there were playing cards, sorry, Mythomagic cards strewn all over the floor.

From the kitchen, I heard Nico trying to explain attack points to Bianca, who must've been trying to learn how the game worked for the sake of her little brother. I don't know exactly who introduced the son of Hades to Mythomagic, but I really wish they'd been more subtle about it. But if the kid was happy, I didn't really care all that much.

"Knock, knock?" I said, pushing the door to the kitchen open, where Nico held two different figurines in his hands while gesturing to a rule book. Bianca merely stared at her brother, nodding along aimlessly, clearly having zoned out a while ago.

"Andy!" Nico exclaimed, setting down the figurines and getting up from his seat, throwing himself at my legs.

I laughed at his enthusiasm, ruffling his hair, earning an annoyed whine from him. He reminded me of Percy when he was younger with his hyperactive antics. It was almost enough to distract me about what his future was going to hold.

"Welcome back," Bianca said kindly, her Italian accent still lingering in her voice, though it had faded considerably over the past few years. "How have your travels been?"

"They've been great," I said, smiling at the young girl's politeness. Maria had done a great job raising her kids, even if only for a few short years. "Guess who has gifts?"

"Yay!" Nico cheered, tearing the box free from my grasp and running it over to the dining table.

"Nico," Bianca chastised, shooting her brother a look. "What do you say?"

"Thank you, Andy!"

"Don't thank me," I laughed, watching as Nico tore through the wrapping paper, unaware of the mess he was making. "They're from your father."

"Really?" Bianca questioned, glancing at the box with newfound interest.

Nico made a noise of excitement as he finally ripped open the box, pulling out plastic containers that held ten Mythomagic figurines and a new set of Mythomagic cards, the tropical edition. He squealed like the fanboy he was, clutching his new Mythomagic toys to his chest in joy.

Bianca reached into the box, pulling out an olive green cap that had the word Venice stitched across the front in white lettering. There was also some colored pencils and a new sketchbook, which brought a small smile onto the daughter of Hades' face.

"How did Father know about these?" Bianca asked, gesturing to the colored pencils and Nico's Mythomagic stuff. She then wrung the green cap in her hands a few times before finally putting it on. The color suited her.

"Your father has connections everywhere."

"You mean you told him?"

I smiled at her deductive thinking. "Precisely. Really, it's a pleasure to work for your father, and he wants you to know that he loves you both very much."

"Then why doesn't he visit?" Nico asked, setting down his new gifts. "He cared enough to bring us here and to send you. But what about him?"

"He's constantly working," I told Nico, which technically isn't a lie. I'd seen the mountain of paperwork that Hades had to fill out on a daily basis, and this was alongside many souls who used to be secretaries, who were excellent at this type of thing. Dying was messy. "He would love to visit you, trust me, but I'm the most he can do."

"Will we ever meet him?"

"Maybe one day you will. But until then, know that he loves and cares for you with all his heart."

I then switched the topic of conversation, not wanting to upset the siblings or reveal anything accidentally. Nico didn't seem to mind all that much, picking up in his explanation of Mythomagic to Bianca, who had audibly groaned and put her head down on the table.

I told Bianca she could go draw if she'd like while I played with Nico. Her dark eyes shone with joy as she picked up her new pencils and sketchbook, dashing into the living room while Nico took a deep breath, having forgotten to breathe during his explanation.

For the next few hours, I played Mythomagic with Nico, who unsurprisingly managed to beat me every time. This reminded me too much of D & D, something I swore I'd never play again after it nearly ended up with someone dying. But I pushed my own memories aside, trying my best to be as enthusiastic about the game as possible while being as lost as Bianca was.

Finally, Nico looked up and glanced at the clock, his smile threatening to split his face in half. "It's time!" he cried, setting down the figurines of a Cyclops and Poseidon. "Come on, Andy. You don't want to miss this!"

We walked through the living room, where Bianca was sleeping peacefully on the couch, her sketchbook and colored pencils neatly put away on the seat next to her. She wasn't peaceful for long, though, as Nico literally jumped onto his sister's lap, causing the older girl to shriek with fright before glaring at her brother. Nico began to laugh, clutching at his sides as Bianca pushed him off of her, causing for him to land on the floor.

"That's not funny," Bianca said, rolling her eyes at her little brother's antics. However, she still offered him a hand up, showing that she wasn't upset.

"You should've seen your face, B," Nico said between breaths, his face red from how hard he was laughing.

"Ignore him," Bianca muttered, watching as Nico continued to laugh as he walked out onto the terrace. "Oh, you've got to be kidding me. _That's_ why he woke me up?"

I didn't know what Bianca was talking about until I heard the explosion behind me. I whirled around, prepared to slit someone's throat, only to notice the nighttime sky fill up with light. There was a few seconds hesitation before another _boom_ rattled the building, another burst of light following it.

Fireworks, I mused, relaxing my stance as to not worry Bianca.

"You'd think he'd get tired of them after living here for a week, but no." Bianca pinched the bridge of her nose, shaking her head in exasperation. "Come, he'll be wondering where we are."

I followed Bianca out onto the terrace, where Nico was standing on a chair that was precariously balanced against the stone wall that prevented someone from falling to their death. Bianca scolded Nico for doing that, telling him to wait for her to return with a stool from the kitchen.

"Don't bother," I told her, getting down to a crouch. "Nico can sit on my shoulders."

"Oh, that's not really necessary."

"I want to do it!" Nico said, clapping his hands together. Bianca was chewing on the inside of her lip, clearly uncomfortable with the idea.

"He'll be safe, Bianca. I promise." She nodded, and Nico hopped onto my shoulders, oohing and awing at the sight of the fireworks.

We were so high up, it was as if all I had to do was stick my hand out, and I'd be able to touch the fireworks. Except there was the minor fact that I liked having both my hands, so I didn't do that. I made sure Nico kept his hands within the terrace, which wasn't that hard as he had them clasped around my shoulders.

The fireworks continued on for another fifteen minutes, the bright colors filling the sky the entire length of the road we were on. When we finally went inside, our clothes reeked of gunpowder, causing for Bianca to send Nico up to take a shower.

Of course, he pouted, but a stern look from his older sister and he was dragging himself up the stairs, muttering something about having a no fun sister. Bianca heard this, her lips pursing together in a fine line as we heard a door close upstairs.

"One day he'll understand," I told Bianca reassuringly, eliciting a sad nod from the eldest child of Hades.

"I just wish I didn't have to be a big sister twenty-four seven." Bianca sighed sadly. "I try my best to raise Nico, but I'm only ten. In what kind of messed up world does a ten-year-old girl raise her eight-year-old brother inside a hotel? We haven't gone to school ever since I was six! What kind of childhood is that?"

I shook my head, pulling in the younger girl for a hug. I knew the answer to all of her questions but was unable to speak a word. If she truly was ten, she'd learn the truth in two years, when Hades would send his children to Westover Hall in Maine. There Grover would alert Percy, Thalia, and Annabeth about the children, pulling them into the chaos that is the godly world.

"Would you like an education?" I asked Bianca as she pulled away from the hug.

"Very much. I get bored here very easily. The games downstairs are enticing and all, but I hate the amount of people. If I lost Nico…I don't know what I'd do." She seemed very interested in the carpet on the floor, looking absolutely miserable. "He's all I have left."

"I know." I began drumming my fingers against my thigh, my ADHD beginning to kick in. "Next time I visit, I'll bring you some textbooks, if you'd like."

"You'd do that for me?"

"Of course. Just because I work for your father doesn't mean I don't care for you both." Bianca gave a weak smile at that. "Plus, you're like the younger siblings I never had."

"Glad to know that you're willing to carry my burden."

She then stood up, smoothening out the knots that had formed in her ebony black hair while she had slept, tucking her sketchbook and colored pencils under her arm. "I've got to go tuck in Nico. Wait up for me?"

"Take all the time you need."

As Bianca ascended the stairs, I took out the new book I was reading, _Legend,_ waiting for Bianca to return. And before anyone attacks me saying that that book hadn't been published yet in my timeline, let me explain something. Salina knew of my love of reading long before she revealed herself – she'd owned a bookstore and had me work there, after all. So when I came over here, she also enchanted my bag to give me access to every book that had been published up until 2018, the year I left.

I figured that out after wanting to reread _The Hunger Games_ and realizing that it wouldn't be published for a few years. Then my charm had started to heat up, and I looked inside, surprised to find the whole trilogy inside along with a note from Salina, who gave me the same explanation I gave you.

I managed to finish the chapter I was on by the time Bianca came bag. She had changed into her pajamas as well – blue and red flowers on her bottoms and a loose fitting gray t-shirt as a top. Her hair had also been pulled out of the braid it was in, falling around her shoulders like a black curtain.

For lack of a better word, Bianca, to put it simply, was beautiful. Her olive skin was flawless, standing out against her dark hair and eyes. Her cheeks were always a dusty pink, like she was stuck permanently blushing, giving the impression of her wearing makeup. She was just as pretty, if not prettier, than some of the Aphrodite kids I knew, because her beauty was all natural.

"Sorry about the wait," Bianca chuckled nervously, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "Nico refused to go to bed until I read him a story about pirates. Peter Pan seemed child friendly enough."

"He likes pirates?"

Bianca scoffed. "Like you wouldn't believe, Andy. He can run on about pirates much longer than Mythomagic."

"Huh." I blinked, making a mental note to take Nico to see the _Pirate of the Caribbean_ movies when they came out. "That's impressive. I love reading book series, but I don't think I could go on for that long about the characters." Total lie. I could and would talk about a series until my voice was gone.

Bianca nodded in agreement. Then she asked, "Could you tell me about Father?"

"What would you like to know?"

"Anything and everything."

I sighed and took a deep breath. This was going to take a while.

* * *

Bianca fell asleep around eleven while I'd been answering one of her questions about Hades. After checking that she wasn't going to stir, I picked her up bridal style and walked up the stairs that led to the rooms.

I opened all the doors, frowning when I saw that most of the rooms were untouched. One of the rooms even had a missing bed.

That all made sense once I found the room Nico was in. Nico's bed was pushed to one side of the room, while on the other side was the missing bed from the other room. Bianca's sketchbook and colored pencils were resting on the nightstand the two of them shared, to the right of the lamp, closer to her bed.

I tucked Bianca into bed, turning off the lamp she'd left on after tucking Nico in. The son of Hades disappeared amongst the blankets as he was curled up in a cocoon, only his face peeking out from the tangle of blankets. I smiled softly at the sight, wishing them both sweet dreams as I silently closed the door.

Afterwards, I shadow-traveled myself back to the Underworld, finding Hades in a good mood. He was busy with his paperwork, as per the usual, but he was smiling softly, an expression I've only ever seen him wear a handful of times.

I wordlessly took a seat at the foot of his throne, one of the shades handing me my own stack of paperwork and pens. Hades usually had me streamlining applications for rebirth as it was a simple task and didn't involve death.

We didn't talk, enjoying each other's company while we worked. Wow, I never thought I'd see the day where I could say I liked spending time with the Lord of the Underworld.

It took me a couple of hours to finish my paperwork, but once I was done, Hades told me I was free to go for the rest of the day. The only rule was I couldn't leave the Underworld, but I didn't mind much. I knew where the least depressing parts of the Underworld were, so it wasn't the worst punishment to be kept here for the time being.

After the Olympians found out I disobeyed Apollo, they thought a fitting punishment was to send me to the Underworld for a month. Apparently I was supposed to learn some discipline under Hades' time with me. Clearly, they didn't know of my friendship with Hades, because if they did, they would've sent me to work the fields with Demeter, who drove me bonkers. Don't get me wrong, I love working the fields, but hearing Demeter prattle on about every type of cereal in existence is enough to make anyone consider pouring molten lava in their ears.

I decided to walk into the Fields of Asphodel, wanting to test a theory of mine. The Fields of Asphodel wasn't the most depressing part of the Underworld, but it was still really sad. There were so many souls here, wandering around aimlessly for all of eternity. Some of them even tried to approach me, but the only noise that they could make was muffled whispering that I couldn't decipher. Once they realized I didn't understand them, they turned away and joined the rest of the crowd.

Pale white poplar trees dotted the whole of Asphodel, the leafless trees giving off a very ghostly vibe. Black stalactites just a little longer than the length of my arm protruded out of the ground, having fallen from the ceiling of the Underworld, which was over fifty miles above where we were situated. At least, that's what Hades told me. The dead didn't seem too worried about falling stalactites. It's not like they'd be hurt anyways, merely hissing like a deflating tire while their souls reformed elsewhere in Asphodel.

This is going to take forever, I thought, glancing under another poplar tree. The dead outnumber the living 1,000,000:1, so to find only one soul was going to be nearly impossible. But I could definitely make my search easier.

I summoned my Stygian iron hunting knives, the souls nearby hissing at the presence of the infernal metal. I made sure the blades weren't going to suck in the souls of the dead I was going to pass by. Hades wouldn't be too pleased to find out I'd absorbed the dead into the gifts he'd given me.

Sure enough, the dead parted for me like the Red Sea, allowing me to pass through without too much of a headache. Subconsciously, my knives were guiding me, taking me deep into Asphodel, much farther inland than I've ever been before.

Abruptly, the vibrating in my hunting knives stopped. I looked around, watching as a soul began to approach me, completely unfazed by the Stygian iron. Making out the edges of a soul is pretty hard when you don't know what you're looking for, but to me, this girl was perfectly clear.

I sheathed my knives, not wanting to accidentally hurt her.

She had dark brown curly hair like my own, except her curls were smaller and more closely coiled together. Her skin was the color of chocolate; her eyes as gold as the Apollo cabin back at camp. She was wearing a white nightgown and matching slippers, giving the appearance that she had died at night, which she had.

"Hello?" she asked softly, her New Orleans accent still thick despite the amount of time she had been dead. "Can you see me? Can you hear me?"

"I can."

The girl's face morphed into one of surprise, probably not expecting me to be able to hold a conversation with her.

"I am Hazel Levesque," she said, smiling weakly as she introduced herself.

"Andy Collins," I replied. "It's nice to meet you, Hazel."


	19. Chapter 19

I spent the next month running errands for Hades. Get groceries, pick up my dry cleaning, go dispose of some people for me. You know, the usual stuff.

To clarify, the people Hades sent me out to kill are some of the worst monsters on the planet. Sometimes, if he deems them as particularly evil, I get to go hunting with the Furies. They still hated me for what happened on Half-Blood Hill all those years ago, and I still resented them for trying to kill Thalia. Despite that, we had a grudging respect between each other. It was more of an I-won't-kill-you-if-you-don't-kill-me kinda relationship.

Whenever I wasn't running errands or stuck in the throne room helping out with paperwork, I was in the Fields of Asphodel, talking to Hazel. We quickly connected, speaking to each other like we'd been lifelong friends instead of only meeting a few weeks ago.

I tried to catch Hazel up on the world to the best of my ability without revealing much about myself or the fact that I was a Greek speaking to a Roman. I even made sure to speak about the gods in their Roman aspect, hoping that Hades wasn't close enough for him to become schizophrenic.

She had been absolutely thrilled when I told her that civil rights passed forty years ago, giving colored people the same rights as whites. She'd also been relieved to find out that the world was still under control of the gods, Gaea having failed to raise Alcyoneus after Hazel had collapsed the glacier that was supposed to be the giant's home.

Then came the question I'd been dreading: "How can you see me?"

"Probably because of my parentage." Not a lie, but not the truth either.

"Who's your godly parent, then?" Hazel asked innocently, playing with her curls while she spoke.

"I don't know. They haven't made themselves known to me."

"Then we may be sisters," Hazel said hopefully. "I don't know of any other gods whose children can hold Stygian iron other than Pluto. And you also have control over the dead. I mean, you're talking to me."

"Gods, I'd love that," I said, returning the smile Hazel was giving me. Then I frowned, feigning ignorance about what I was going to ask. "Wait, you said I have control over the dead. Does that mean you don't?"

Hazel bit her lip, turning to stare at the ground. At her feet, a bright red ruby popped up, still shining despite the little light. "Don't touch it!" she yelped, picking up the ruby and tucking it into the pocket of her nightgown.

I wasn't going to touch it anyways, but the way she seemed so afraid of the ruby made me wonder just what Marie had done to her. Hazel scooted back from me, like she was expecting me to scream or hit her.

"It's okay, Hazel," I reassured her. "I'm not one to judge, especially when I have freaky powers of my own."

Hazel tilted her head sideways, confused about my reaction. I was right, she'd been expecting some sort of backlash from me, once again making me wonder how people treated her while she was alive.

"What kind of powers?"

I glanced towards the palace then overhead, making sure I wasn't going to be caught. I don't know if Hades was aware of my visits with the soul of his dead Roman daughter.

Once I was sure I was in the clear, I opened my hand, letting a small flame dance across my palm. Then, with the little water in the air, I extinguished the fire before letting the water swirl around the two of us, making sure that not a drop landed on Hazel.

I then glanced at a poplar tree and had an idea. I picked up a fallen branch, earning a weird look from Hazel. "Patience," I told her, tightening my grip on the white branch. Sure enough, little dark red flowers began to bloom – pomegranate flowers.

"Wow," Hazel breathed, her fingers passing through the flowers when she tried to touch them. "I didn't think Proserpina's seeds reached this far into Asphodel."

"Neither did I." I then forced the flowers to wilt and die, not wanting to leave behind any evidence.

Next, I made little sparks jump in my hand, which understandably made Hazel a little jumpy. Even during World War Two, I figured Jupiter must've still had it out for Pluto's kids, whether they were directly involved or not.

As my final demonstration, I showed Hazel my control over the shadows, forcing them to cloak me. Hazel gasped next to me. I let the shadows go, revealing myself once again. I decided not to show her my powers I'd gotten from Hera, Juno, whatever, as a lot of people didn't enjoy having someone else look into their memories.

"How has Jupiter not killed you yet?" Hazel asked, her eyes wide.

"Pledged my undying fidelity to Olympus," I said. "Jupiter and I aren't on the best terms right now, but I don't mind spending time with Pluto."

"You've _met_ the Olympians?"

"I live with them," I corrected her. "Jupiter wanted to kill me, saying that I was too powerful to be let loose. However, Minerva convinced him otherwise, and the council voted to keep me around as Olympus' final defense. They took over my training, and for the past five years, I've spent every week with an Olympian."

"Even my father?"

"Yes. I'm here right now, because I disobeyed Apollo. The council figured the Underworld was a punishment, but Pluto and I are friends, which they don't know."

Hazel snorted, laughing into her hand. "Forgive me, but I can't picture my father being friends with a demigod."

"Trust me, I don't understand it either. But I help him out with all the paperwork and run his errands, so I figure that helps too."

Suddenly, all the nerves in my body were telling me to hide. I brought a finger to my lips, signaling Hazel to be quiet as I hid myself in the shadows, staying perfectly still. Moments later, the three Furies flew overhead, a new soul dangling from Megaera's talons as they headed for the Fields of Punishment. I waited for a three count before letting the shadows dissolve, sighing in relief.

"That was a close one," I said, shaking my head to rid my mind of that soul's screaming.

"Are you even allowed to visit me?" Hazel asked, looking extremely guilty all of a sudden. "I don't want you to get in trouble."

"I don't think anyone knows about our reunions, and I intend to keep it that way." Even from here, I could hear the lash of the Furies' whips, the tortured screams from Punishment permeating the still air. "I need to go before I'm caught."

Hazel nodded in agreement. "Stay safe, Andy. I'll see you whenever you drop by again."

"We'll meet again, Hazel, I assure you."

I didn't give her time to ask for me to explain before disappearing in my own shadow, vanishing to my room in Hades' palace.

* * *

When I finally was allowed out of the Underworld, I was sent back to Olympus to face the council. Apparently during my absence, Apollo and Athena had teamed up against the rest of the gods to give me a chance at a normal life.

They weren't going to strip me of my powers or anything like that, but they wanted me down in the mortal world to fend for myself now. Honestly, I didn't care either way as I loved both Olympus and the mortal world. Plus, nothing in the mortal world scared me anymore, while the godly world still had stuff that made me want to go cry and die in a hole.

"And what will she be doing?" Zeus demanded, unconvinced of his children's plan, even though now many of the gods had started to back them.

"Going to college like any other nineteen-year-old," Athena spoke simply, though it was clear in her tone that she used an enormous amount of self-control to omit the "duh" from her statement.

"Where?"

"Wherever she wishes," Apollo added. "Name the school, kid, and we'll get you in."

"And why exactly would I agree to this?" Zeus was scowling at Apollo and Athena, the recently reclaimed Master Bolt glowing as a result of its master's agitation. "Wasn't the whole purpose of training Andromeda to keep her here on Olympus?"

"She was to be our last line of defense," Artemis reminded her father, actually standing with her brother for once.

"Aw, thanks for the support little sis!"

Apollo yelped when a silver arrow landed millimeters from his head.

"How many times must I remind you, _I helped birth you!"_ Artemis hissed, releasing another arrow at Apollo, which struck opposite the initial arrow, leaving Apollo's head stuck between two silver arrows.

"Not this again," Hermes grumbled, not even looking up from his phone as his thumbs moved rapidly across the screen, most likely responding to some work-related email.

"Back to the topic at hand," Athena interrupted, bringing the attention back to her. "Andromeda has proven herself loyal to Olympus multiple times, Father. She's brought many of our children to their camps as well as serve us without ever questioning orders. I believe she's earned the right to live in the mortal world with other children her age."

"She doesn't need friends," Zeus snapped. "All they'll be are distractions that will prevent Andromeda of doing her duty."

"Wasn't she friends with your daughter?" Poseidon asked, frowning at his brother. "Hades, the girl has made friends with many of our children at camp. My son, Annabeth, Grover, Cleo, Travis, Connor…Need I go on?"

Zeus grit his teeth, visibly annoyed at Poseidon calling his bluff. "Didn't your son end up being the reason Andromeda nearly died?" Zeus then turned to glare at Athena. "That goes for your daughter too, Athena. Wasn't she the one who initially threw Andromeda in the way of Ares's sword?"

"I said I was sorry!" Ares exclaimed, huffing indignantly.

"It's okay, sweetheart, she wasn't blaming you in the first place," Aphrodite cooed.

"My daughter acted unwisely," Athena conceded, "but she only had good intentions, as I'm sure Andromeda understands."

I nodded, but no one seemed to notice.

"That doesn't change the fact that she nearly died," Hephaestus argued. "You can't fix people like machines, Athena, trust me. It's a miracle Apollo got to her in time."

I sighed and took a seat by Hestia, who was watching her family fight with a sad look on her face.

"She was smart enough to ask Ares to throw her in the water," Demeter said between bites of her cereal. No one asked where the goddess had gotten a bowl of Lucky Charms, nor did they really care.

"Exactly," Athena agreed. "Andromeda was strong enough to maintain consciousness after a severe injury from a symbol of power and then aid Ares in helping to heal herself."

"Don't you think this constitutes some freedom?" Apollo kept pushing. "We've worked Andromeda like a dog for the past five years, practically trying to turn her into some mindless security guard, a messenger girl. Yet she's persevered through every obstacle we've ever thrown at her."

"Freedom?" Zeus growled, standing up from his throne. "That girl has had nothing but freedom! We allow her to come and go as she wishes-"

"As long as she checks in first," Hermes coughed, causing Apollo to smile.

"-to carry out orders unsupervised-"

"Yeah, right."

"-and to speak to us like equals."

"Not."

Zeus glared daggers at Hermes, who didn't even flinch, not bothering to look up from his phone. Apollo snickered quietly in his throne, yelping again as Artemis shot another arrow at her brother.

"Hermes speaks the truth," Poseidon said, agreeing with his nephew. "Andromeda lives under the impression that we give her independence, yet every second that she is not in your direct line of sight, you demand that Iris shows you what she is doing!"

"And with good reason! What do you make of the time Iris can't show me an image, hmm? What am I supposed to believe she's doing then?"

Thank you, Iris, I prayed mentally, hoping that the static was strongest whenever I was meddling around with the future. Maybe the Fates had instructed the rainbow goddess to keep my meetings secret, and that meant I'd have to thank them too, if that were the case. Or maybe it was Salina, whom I haven't heard from in two years. I wouldn't put it past her.

"Using the bathroom? Sleeping?" Apollo offered with a shrug. "There are many reasons Iris keeps things hidden."

"Are you all so blind?" Zeus yelled, his body beginning to glow with rage. I averted my eyes, not wanting to disintegrate today. "She's clearly been conspiring with her father to bring about our doom!"

Then a resounding slap echoed around the room, bringing everyone to silence. Risking disintegration, I glanced up at the gods, seeing Zeus clutching his cheek while Hera scowled at him, her normally kind eyes alight in anger.

"How dare you accuse Andromeda of such treachery," Hera seethed, her voice level yet still hard enough to cut through bedrock. "She has sworn an oath on the River Styx – multiple, actually – that she would never betray us. If she had ever broken her oaths, we would've known immediately. The fact that Andromeda is standing in this very room at the moment is proof enough that she hasn't betrayed us."

Go, Lady Hera, I rooted internally, glad that someone was finally putting the Drama King in his place. Gods, he was so paranoid at times, it made my head spin. How could you live with the constant fear of being usurped all the time? It's not like anyone else wanted to be King of the Gods for the time being.

"Now that the issue is settled," Hera continued, shooting her husband a scathing glare, making him sink into his throne in defeat. "Let's vote like the civilized beings we are. All in favor of granting Andromeda permission to live in the mortal world?"

Only Zeus abstained, pouting like a petulant child who had been refused the last cookie from the cookie jar.

"Motion carried. Andromeda, speak with Apollo and Athena about where you will be attending school in the upcoming month."

"I will, Lady Hera."

"Make sure the council is informed of your decision."

"I will."

"You better show up if we summon you," Zeus threatened, receiving glares from all the gods minus Dionysus, who had fallen asleep as soon as the voting was over.

Ignoring Zeus' anger, I said in a calm voice, "That's my duty, Lord Zeus."

"The council is dismissed."

* * *

After a lot of deliberation between Apollo and Athena, and very minimal input from me, I found out I was going to be enrolled at Columbia University, here in New York. Yeah, I know, I find out I'm getting sent away to college, and it turns out Apollo got me accepted into an Ivy League by merely batting his eyes.

And Mist.

Lots and lots of Mist.

I was now enrolled as a biochemistry student who minored in scientific research and ancient histories. Not exactly sure why they'd thought biochemistry would be the best major for me, but who was I to argue when I was going to an Ivy League for free.

Back home, I'd been planning to go to the community college that was a twenty minute walk from the orphanage. Even then, I thought about going into teaching or journalism, never giving a field in math or science a second thought. I was good at math and science, but I wasn't a fan, especially after suffering through the endless nightmare that is calculus.

Trust me, curves are all nice and pretty until you're forced to find the area of a sphere with no other information than the derivative of the curve and a radius.

But according to Athena, she'd already taught me the majority of what I needed to know to be successful in my classes, so I wasn't too freaked out. Plus, I pretty much have biology under my belt thanks to Apollo, who made me start from the basics after learning that I had never taken a biology class in my life.

Apparently the fall semester started in two days, so I packed all my belongings into two large duffel bags and my bag and shadow-traveled to the campus. Yes, I was going to experience the joys of dorm room living. Maybe I should've asked Percy for some pointers before bringing myself here.

Oh, well, too late now.

* * *

The school year was surprisingly quiet in terms of monster attacks, which I thought was pretty odd. I mean, I'm not exactly the weakest in terms of demigod scent if Grover's statement was anything to go by. I hadn't been wearing any of my charms, either, like the ones I gave Percy and Leo, so it's not like I was trying to mask my scent.

At least the lack of attacks made it much easier to pass off as a normal student versus a soldier waiting for the dreaded call that meant it was time to go back to work. I even made a few mortal friends, who were all crazy smart as well as complete party animals.

Let's just say there's a reason I don't ever want to get drunk.

When the year finally ended, I decided to travel around New York, wanting to familiarize myself with the state I'd been living in the past six years now. I went up to Niagara Falls and stayed there for a few days, loving the sound of the roaring water as it went over the side, mist spraying all the visitors on the bridge even if there was no wind.

I even visited the state house in Albany, narrowly avoiding some serious trouble after I accidentally tripped the governor of New York down the steps of the building. Before anyone could figure out what happened and blame me, I'd mist-traveled so quickly out of the place it was a miracle a part of me hadn't been left behind.

Now it was finally summer, and seeing that the gods ( _cough,_ not Zeus, _cough_ ) were still okay with the fact that I was roaming the mortal world freely, I wanted to stay at Camp Half-Blood for the summer. Maybe this time I wouldn't miss six weeks after being stabbed, but who knows when you're a demigod.

When I arrived at camp after taking a Greyhound into the nearest bus stop by camp, I watched as the Gray Sister's taxi service dropped Percy, Annabeth, and Tyson at the foot of Half-Blood Hill. That meant…oh, no.

Running rampant inside the borders of Camp Half-Blood were two Colchis bulls, nasty metal creatures that blew fire and radiated enough heat to give anyone who touched their hides second and third degree burns. Even from here, I could see their ruby eyes glowing with hatred, going after three Ares campers who were trying to take the beast down.

Luckily for me, I was fireproof, so I didn't have to worry about the fire the bulls spewed. I summoned Epithymia, running over to the recently arrived trio.

"What the heck is going on?" I asked, readjusting the grip on my sword's shield. "Why didn't Chiron contact me?"

Annabeth looked up. Her blonde hair was a rat's nest, matted with soot and dirt. She had a cut mark on her chin and another on her arm, but she didn't seem too bothered by them.

"Colchis bulls," Annabeth said, gesturing up the hill as an Ares kid's helmet caught fire. "I wish I had my Medea's SPF 50,000. And I had a jar at home, too."

"Border patrol, to me!" a gruff voice I recognized as Clarisse's shouted.

"Since when have we had a border patrol?" Percy asked, the four of us beginning to charge uphill. He uncapped Riptide, the bronze sword shimmering to its full length in his hand.

"We haven't," I answered.

"We've got to help Clarisse," Annabeth said, which we both agreed even though we weren't exactly buddies with the daughter of Ares.

"What about him?" I asked, motioning to Tyson.

"We need him."

"What?" Percy asked. "Annabeth, he's a mortal. Maybe he got lucky with those dodgeballs but…"

"Not the time, guys," I reminded them.

The four of us ran forward, but when Tyson tried to cross the boundary line, he couldn't. Percy didn't realize this, of course, charging forward to help Clarisse, even though we both knew she would be upset about the intervention.

Annabeth shot Tyson a distasteful glare before joining Percy. I decided I was going to wait for Annabeth to be the one to let Tyson into camp.

Percy and Clarisse tag teamed one bull, while Annabeth and I ran over to the four other Ares campers who were visibly shaking in their armor. Seeing that I had the longer weapon and was fireproof, I ran forward, dragging Epithymia's blade across the bull's flank as it charged past me.

Even after the bull had ran past, deciding to continue terrorizing the other Ares campers, I could still feel the residual heat, my face feeling as flushed as the time I'd accidentally fallen asleep inside the sun chariot without any air conditioning.

"Spread out!" Annabeth told the other campers, watching as the bull we were fighting take a U-turn, its head low and horns pointed directly at us. "Distract the bulls!"

"What do you think we've been doing?!" one of the campers shouted, grunting as they leaped out of the way of the charging bull.

I forced myself to stand still for a three count, earning a, "Move, Andy!" from Annabeth, waiting for the bull to attack. When it realized I wasn't running away in fear, the bull opened its mouth, a nozzle taking the place of where its tongue should've been. The bull's hide began to light up orange, glowing like lava under the Earth's surface.

"Andromeda, get out of the way!" Annabeth shouted again, her footsteps approaching me quickly.

"Stay back!" I shouted at Annabeth, never breaking eye contact with the bull.

Then the bull's entire body shook before lunging forward, white hot fire spewing from the nozzle that Hephaestus had installed. From outside the wall of fire, I could hear Annabeth screaming my name. I guess she forgot about my pyrokinesis.

I brandished my sword, forcing it to take the brunt of the flames as a way to control my energy. I pictured the flames wrapping around behind me into thick ropes before screaming, feeling the tug in my gut that let me know something was happening.

The fire rushed back at the bull, running over its metal hide. Then I heard the war cry of, "BAD COW!" and knew I needed to move before I'd get my skulled smashed in accidentally. I held the fire for a second more before running to the side, Tyson showing up and slamming his fists onto either side of the bull's snout.

The bull's snout crumpled inward, looking like a sock that was inside out. Tyson continued applying pressure, causing for fire to come out of the bull's ears. He hit the bull again, and this time the entire face caved in, giving the resemblance of a piece of aluminum foil that had been crumpled up and straightened up multiple times.

"Down!" Tyson shouted, pushing the bull backwards. For good measure, I slashed at the back leg.

The bull then keeled over, landing on its back. It moved its legs in the air like a cockroach that was stuck on its back, steam pouring from its misshapen head and neck. Clarisse had taken care of the other bull with a spear to the leg. Now it was limping in slow circles, moving around a fixed point like it was stuck on a record player.

Percy was down by a tree, Annabeth squatting down to hand him her canteen of nectar. He sprained his ankle during the fight, I remembered from the books. Clarisse then walked over to the duo, screaming curses at Percy for getting in her way.

I turned to Tyson and held out a hand. "I'm Andy," I said.

Tyson stared at my hand, unsure of what to make of it. I brought my hand back down. "I'm Tyson," he said happily, flashing me his crooked yellow teeth that were caked with peanut butter. I looked up higher, his one brown eye bright with joy. "I saved Percy!"

"Yeah, you did," I laughed, sheathing my sword.

We walked over to Percy, who was propped up against a pine tree. I bent down, telling him to show me his ankle while I pulled out the gauze and splint I carried with me at all times.

"You didn't die," Percy told Tyson bluntly.

Tyson glance downward, guilty from having disobeyed Percy. Then they had the whole revelation about Tyson being a Cyclops, causing Percy's mouth to open and close like a gaping fish.

"A mistake," I heard Annabeth say. Tyson was on the verge of tears.

"Hey," I snapped, looking up from Percy's ankle. "Don't blame the kid for who his parents are."

Annabeth ignored me.

I rolled my eyes and helped Percy to his feet, handing him off to Annabeth to support him back to camp. He'd only sprained his ankle, thank the gods, and after a shower, he'd be fine.

Clarisse came back and turned to me. "We need your help to get the wounded back to the infirmary." She looked behind me and glared at Tyson. "We need to tell Tantalus about him."

"Who's Tantalus?" Percy asked.

"The activities director," Clarisse said impatiently, wiping a hand across her forehead, leaving behind a streak of soot.

"Chiron is the activities director," Percy argued. "And where's Argus? He's head of security. He should be here."

Clarisse scowled, glaring at the sight of the fire still raging on the hillside. "Argus got fired. You three have been gone too long. Things are changing."

"But Chiron…He's trained kids to fight monsters for over three thousand years. He can't just be _gone._ What happened?"

" _That_ happened." She pointed at Thalia and Luke's pine tree.

I paled, starting to walk over to the tree. Its pine needles were all an ugly shade of yellow, barely hanging onto the branches. Surrounding the base of the tree like a depressing wall were a ton of dead pine needles, indicating just how sickly the tree really was. Three feet from the bottom of the tree was a hole the size of a .45 round. It was oozing a nasty green fluid, dripping down the bark and onto the scorched grass beneath it.

I placed a hand on the tree and shivered, feeling the agony that Luke and Thalia were in from the poison. One of the downsides of Demeter's powers, you feel everything in nature.

"I'm sorry," I whispered, feeling the guilt I'd tried to bury over the past few years come back at full force. "I'm so sorry."

I pulled away from the tree, gritting my teeth in anger.

Kyle was going to pay for hurting my friends and for endangering my home. This I vow.


	20. Chapter 20

I was brooding in the strawberry fields, away from the rest of the campers to prevent myself from strangling Tantalus to death again with my bare hands.

The revived spirit wasn't all that intimidating – taut flesh over his thin frame, dark, sunken eyes, and a mop of oily gray hair on his head. His fingernails were dirty crescents, his smile a cruel sneer. To top it all off, he was stuck wearing an orange prison jumpsuit with the number 0001 stitched onto the front pocket and on his back. Combine that with the fact that food attempts suicide every time he tries to reach for it, all in all, the new activities director was more of a nuisance than anything else.

I'd gotten a chance to say goodbye to Chiron before he left, purposely ignoring the satchel that he had across his chest. He had dark half circles under his eyes, letting me know that he was stressed out about his leaving.

"Where will you go?" I'd asked him, the two of us ambling towards the border. "The Party Ponies?"

"I'm afraid so," Chiron had sighed, wiping a tired hand across his face. "However, if I am right, I will be stationed with my brethren in Miami for the time being."

"Be safe," I told him, giving him a hug as we reached the poisoned pine tree. "I'll clear your name, I promise."

"Don't you worry about that," Chiron said, waving a finger at me. "I'm more than capable of taking care of myself, Andy. Keep an eye on Annabeth and Percy, will you?"

"Of course, sir."

After Chiron took off, galloping at the supersonic speed that all centaurs could achieve, I sat myself down in the strawberry fields, hearing some campers screaming in fright at the sight of Tyson.

I felt bad for the big guy. From the little conversation and interaction I had with him, I pegged him as a big teddy bear, the kind of guy who wouldn't even hurt a fly unless seriously provoked. Plus, he was going to get picked on even more after Poseidon claimed him.

Behind me, satyrs played their reed pipes, sending ants running out of the strawberry fields like refugees from a fire. I smiled wistfully at one of them, reminding myself of Grover. Then my smiled dissipated as I remembered where Grover was at the moment, stuck on the island of Polyphemus in the middle of the Sea of Monsters.

What would Hermes say when he saw me here? I know he was going to ask Percy for help to save Kyle, but even that turned out sourly last time. Kyle was beyond any of our help, sad as it may seem. He was stuck under the pretenses of my father's promises and would stop at nothing to see Olympus burned to the ground brick by brick.

I nearly jumped out of my skin when I felt someone put a hand on my shoulder. I looked up to find a smirking Cleo, her gold hair glowing like it was on fire in the summer sunlight.

"Ha, I finally got you!" she cheered as I got up, rolling my eyes at her.

"Won't happen again," I promised, dusting the dirt off my pants. We'd had a running joke about scaring each other for the past few months or whenever we saw each other.

"Five drachmas that it will."

"Since when did you bet?" I laughed, agreeing to the bet with a shake of our hands.

"Since you left me alone with the Stoll brothers." Cleo was pouting at the reminder that I'd left for the year, as she was a year rounder alongside the Stoll brothers, Clarisse, Will, Michael, and a handful of other demigods. I guess it made sense that she would hang out with them as they were all around the same age.

The two of walked back to camp, our arms slung around each other shoulders while we talked and laughed as we caught up. I'd visited camp three months ago during my spring break, so there hadn't been too much that I'd missed, other than the sudden arrival of Tantalus.

There mere thought of Tantalus made me angry. How dare the gods accuse Chiron for treason! He's literally been training their children for over three thousand years, creating heroes like Jason (the original), Theseus, and Hercules (ugh), not to mention the fact that he was the one that brought Percy to camp to return Zeus' Master Bolt. Zeus had really gone off his rocker to blame the old centaur for the poisoning of his daughter's tree.

We disentangled ourselves as we approached the dining hall, not wanting to send the wrong impression. Personally, I didn't care what anyone thought about me anymore. Spending time with the Olympians forced me to increase my self-confidence, or else I'd be a sniveling mess from the amount of insults and harassment I've suffered at their hands. Cleo, on the other hand, cared what people thought, and especially after learning about the kind of trauma she'd gone through, she didn't want anyone to think she was in a relationship.

I took a seat at the Poseidon table with Percy, who was silently glaring at Mr. D and Tantalus. Tyson had been forced to stand next to the duo, fear rolling off of him in waves. The satyrs next to Mr. D weren't too happy about their current situation, either, staying on the side of the god that Tyson wasn't on.

"I can't believe it," Percy muttered, his fingers incessantly tapping on the marble countertop. "I've known him for the entire school year and never saw a thing."

"It's the Mist," I replied, watching as a nymph set down a plate of grilled chicken tacos in front of me. I thanked her as she set down a plate of steak tacos in front of Percy before moving onto the Ares table. "Don't feel bad that you're still learning how it works."

Percy nodded glumly, standing up and making his way over to the bathtub sized brazier. We both threw in some of our tacos before returning to the table, chowing down on our lunch. Hey, I hadn't eaten breakfast this morning, so I was going to enjoy my tacos.

Over at the head table, Tantalus was trying to corner a chocolate frosted doughnut, which flew off the table, knocking over a couple glasses as it flung itself to the floor. Tantalus scowled at the dessert while I snickered softly, glad that my back was to the head table. He deserved his punishment for killing his children and feeding the gods with their bodies.

"Campers!" Tantalus announced, raising an empty hand like he was expecting it to be holding a golden goblet. "A toast to the brave Clarisse for slaying those dreadful Colchis bulls!"

The kids at the Ares table shouted obnoxiously loud, pounding Clarisse on the back in excitement. Clarisse seemed uncomfortable by the attention, which was a first, but I guess I understood. No one wanted to be favored by creepy, old Tantalus.

"What about that?" one of the Apollo boys asked, gesturing towards Tyson.

"He's not a that," Percy growled lowly, his posture tense even though he was sitting. It was a miracle that he hadn't lashed out. Fatal flaw, after all.

"Ah, yes, the Cyclops," Mr. D said tiredly, taking a swig out of his can of Diet Coke before passing off the empty can to one of the satyrs. "What ever shall we do with him?"

"I wanted to let him loose into the forest and have you all hunted down, but apparently I can't." Tantalus gave Mr. D a stink eye, the wine god not aware of the look of disgust on the newcomer's face.

"Does the Hermes cabin have any room?" Mr. D asked. Connor and Travis shook their heads back and forth so quickly, it's a miracle they didn't suffer whiplash. The other Hermes kids didn't look too thrilled about having a Cyclops in their cabin either. Plus, it's not like they had the room, especially during the summer session.

Then a bright sea green light began glowing above Tyson's head, a light I'd only ever seen once before. Percy's jaw dropped, the taco he'd been eating sliding out of his hand and onto his plate. Because glowing above Tyson's head was a sea green trident, the same symbol that had appeared over Percy's head when he was claimed – the sign of Poseidon.

The entire dining pavilion burst out into laughter, pointing to Tyson while clutching at their stomachs. Tyson was swatting at the holographic light above his head, not understanding what was going on.

Beside me, Percy was scowling at the other campers, knowing that they were being cruel beyond measure. I grit my teeth, hating how people laughed at things they didn't understand, even if the thing in this case turned out to be a Cyclops. Annabeth, Charles Beckendorf, Silena Beauregard, and a few other of Percy's friends stayed silent, glaring at Tantalus.

"I can see the family resemblance!" Tantalus howled.

I grabbed a little pebble from the ground with a shadow and chucked it at Tantalus, biting back a laugh when it brained him right in the center of the forehead. The rest of the campers' laughter died down as Tantalus turned to glare at all of us.

"Who threw that?" Tantalus demanded, crossing his bony arms over his chest.

Not a single soul said a thing.

"Well, I'm waiting!"

Silence.

I stood up in annoyance, catching Tantalus' attention. "You, girl," he snapped. "You seem like an attentive one. Can you tell me who threw this infernal stone at me?"

"I can," I said with a shrug. "Doesn't mean I will."

"Oh, snap!" Connor shouted behind me. I turned around and gave him a thumbs up.

Some campers nodded their head in approval, others shook their head like I'd just signed my own death certificate. Which, in all honesty, I could see Hades doing.

"Off to your campfire, now!" Tantalus snapped, causing for kids to practically trample each other as they ran out of the dining pavilion. "Except for you, girl."

I turned around, cracking my knuckles out of sheer boredom. Annabeth was dragging Percy out of the dining pavilion, telling him, "She can handle herself." Tyson trailed behind them, looking like a lost puppy, if a puppy was six-foot-three and was strong enough to crush metal with his bare hands.

"I don't want trouble here, honey," Tantalus sneered, waggling a crooked finger at me.

"Neither do I," I spat, disdain clear in my voice. "And there wasn't any trouble while Chiron was around."

"Ah, the previous activities director. Well, if this is a case of missing your friend, I'll let your insolence slide this once."

"Gee thanks." I rolled my eyes.

"Was that sarcasm, young lady?"

"No, of course not." My voice was dripping with sarcasm.

Tantalus squinted at me, his addled brain trying to detect my sarcasm. He then sighed, and I swear, I could see his lungs moving through his ribs. He pinched the bridge of his crooked nose and waved me off, muttering curses in Ancient Greek under his breath.

I smirked at his annoyance, skipping my way to the campfire like a kindergartner hopped up on sugar during recess.

* * *

Over the next couple of days, I tagged along with Percy, more as an emotional support for him than anything else. Whenever someone would ask Percy how he felt about having a monster for a brother, he'd grit his teeth and say, "It's not that simple."

"Yeah, uh huh, right," people would reply.

One time, when Percy, Annabeth, and I had been down by the canoe lake sketching designs for the upcoming chariot race, an Aphrodite girl, Drew Tanaka, asked Percy if he wanted eyeliner for his eye, "Sorry, _eyes."_

"Go play dress up, Drew," I told her, waving her off as she turned red and stormed off. I really had a knack for pissing people off.

"Just ignore them, Percy," Annabeth said, flipping to a new page in her sketchbook. She pulled a pencil out of the spiral and began to sketch. "It's not your fault you have a monster for a brother."

"He's _not_ my brother!" Percy snapped, his fingers tight around the pencil. If he squeezed any tighter, the pencil was going to snap in half. "And he's not a monster, either!"

"Don't get mad at me! And technically, he is."

"Yeah, because _you_ gave him permission to enter camp!"

"I did it to save your life!"

"Okay, enough, you two," I said, stopping the two thirteen-year-olds before they ripped each other's heads off. "Let's get back to work on this axle."

"I don't understand. You treat Tyson like this big, scary monster when he hasn't done anything but save my life! What do you have against Cyclopes anyways?"

Annabeth's face turned red, the steam practically pouring from her ears. She stood up, tucking her pencil into her ponytail. "Maybe you should build this chariot with him, then!"

"Fine!"

"Fine!"

I pinched the bridge of my nose and shook my head as Annabeth stomped off, hitting a tether ball so hard that it curled around the metal pole with her one hit. Percy set his own notepad down, miserably staring down at the lake. The naiads were glancing up at us, whispering silently amongst themselves before dissolving into the water within the lake.

"Don't be too hard on her," I told Percy, continuing to sketch absentmindedly. I hadn't planned to join the chariot race, but Cleo really wanted to, so I had agreed to be her partner. "She doesn't have the best experiences with Cyclopes. I haven't either."

"At least you treat him like a normal person," Percy said glumly. "I wish Annabeth would, too."

"It'll take time, but I'm sure she'll come around. Now, let's go find Tyson. You've got a chariot to build."

Percy walked off to find Tyson in the forges with the Hephaestus kids, leaving me to keep working on my own chariot. I was going for sleek and light, choosing birch wood that would be painted a shade of light blue with gold and bronze highlights. I kept sketching the silhouette of the body and adding spokes on the wheels when I felt the beginning of a major headache.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me," I thought, setting my stuff down as my vision started to go fuzzy.

Oh, so _now_ the Fates decided to show me something? After three years of silence?

I shut my eyes, allowing myself to get consumed by the darkness.

* * *

I was in an extremely elegant room, furnished with lavish couches and mahogany tables. Gold statues of the gods rested on marble pedestals, shining as brightly as they must've been during the time of the Ancient Greeks. In the corner of the room was a bubbling fountain, illuminated with a faint blue light, reminding me of the new saltwater fountain that Poseidon had added to his cabin at camp. In the far corner were two maroon curtains, the tassels shimmering with gold accents.

Whoever's house I was in had expensive taste and really, _really_ liked gold.

I pushed the curtains aside, greeted by a soft yellow light which contrasted greatly to the Green Day that was blaring from two speakers that were mounted from the speakers. There were Wii and Xbox consoles set up underneath an eighty-inch TV, a myriad of games stacked neatly into the little cubbies under the TV.

"Get out!" someone shouted, a spear landing in the wall millimeters from my head.

I raised my eyebrows and ducked under the spear's shaft, looking around for who could've thrown that. No one was visibly in the room, but I knew people had been here recently from the way that the game was paused on the TV and the fact that the _American Idiot_ album was only halfway through.

Not wanting to risk the chance of the spear actually piercing me, I made a fist out in front of me and pulled my hand closer to my chest, forcing the darkness to coalesce around me. The little light that the lamp gave off revealed two shadows above me, their bodies pressed tightly against the wall.

I debated on summoning Epithymia but decided against it, wanting to find out more about this place without hurting anyone inside. I walked around the room until I found the stairs, slowly climbing up, keeping my footsteps as light as possible.

However, all subtlety went out the door when I heard people running away. I chased after the footsteps, stopping outside the door I'd seen get pulled shut. The two people who'd ran away were whispering frantically to one another, probably trying to board up the door.

Pulling out a bobby pin from my messy hair, I crouched down to the lock and began picking it. After a couple tries, the lock clicked open, and knowing that the door would be boarded up, I slammed into it with my shoulder, feeling resistance instantly.

I backed up and slammed into the door again, calling on the shadows to aid me in breaking the door down. Sure enough, third time was a charm as whatever was blocking the door gave way. I burst into the room, rubbing my now sore shoulder as I looked around.

A second later, I felt a blade pressed against my throat. "Move, and you die," a familiar voice hissed, their hand steady on the hilt of the blade.

"Luke?" I asked, careful to keep my voice low, so I didn't accidentally slit my own throat.

"How do you know my name?" he demanded, pressing down on the blade slightly, causing for me to begin bleeding.

"I'm Andy Collins. You know, your friend?"

"Lies! She is fourteen; you're much older."

"It's been six years since I turned you into a tree."

He pressed harder, and I felt my pulse roaring in my ears. I could shadow-travel away, sure, but that wasn't going to help my case any, especially if Thalia was nearby.

"Tell me something only Andy would know," Luke demanded.

"I met you guys defeating that Cyclops in Brooklyn. On the way to camp, we stopped at Sweet on America for a break, because you were going to pass out again from the wound you got from a dracaena. During our first Capture the Flag game, I became the Human Torch in front of everyone. I gave you money for your Golden Apples quest," I rattled off, listing everything I could off the top of my head. "It's me, Luke."

The pressure of the blade pulled away from my neck, causing me to wince at the abruptness of the action. I pressed my hand against the cut, using the water in the air to heal myself.

"Thalia, it's her," Luke called out into the darkness.

The daughter of Zeus walked forward, Aegis out in its full glory around her wrist. She tapped the shield twice, Aegis collapsing back into her bracelet. Thalia then cocked her head to the side, sizing me up like we'd never met before.

"Andy?" she asked, her voice perfectly calm. "Is it really you?"

"In the flesh," I replied with a smile. "What is this place?" I asked, gesturing around me.

"We don't really know," Luke answered, reaching over and turning on the light for the room. "We figured that this was your doing, but I guess not."

The room we were in was very clearly Thalia's room. Posters for Green Day, Blink-182, Nirvana, and Fall Out Boy covered the black painted walls. On a rack in the corner, there were spare spears, one missing from the rack as it was impaled into the wall downstairs. Thalia also had a collection of CDs, a few of them resting on top of a wooden trunk at the foot of her bed.

"Nice theme you've got going on here, Thalia," I said, feeling right at home amongst the posters. I loved all of these bands deeply but was never able to buy anything due to lack of money.

"Thanks," she smiled. "Glad to know someone has good taste around here."

Luke held up his hands in surrender. "I'm sorry for liking Guns 'N' Roses and Michael Jackson!"

"Also great musicians," I agreed, earning a, "Traitor!" from Thalia.

The three of us laughed at that, feeling surprisingly at ease with each other. I'd been expecting the tension between Thalia and me to be thicker after the mess that had happened while she was alive, but I guess some time as a pine tree mellowed her out a bit.

"So, what's happened since we've become a tree?" Luke asked, motioning for us to follow him.

He gestured to the couches and told me to take a seat and that he'd come back with refreshments. Luke disappeared behind some more maroon curtains before returning with three glasses of lemonade. I raised an eyebrow at the lemonade but accepted a glass anyways, deciding that there were more important things to discuss than to ask how the heck they had lemonade inside a pine tree.

I gave Thalia and Luke the watered down version of everything major that was going on in the outside world, cutting out a lot of my own adventures as they were still kinda forbidden. Plus, I didn't need the two of them worrying about children of Hades and the Great Prophecy just yet.

I faltered at the end when I realized I was going to have to tell them about the elder python venom. They noticed my hesitation and gave each other a look that said, _This can't be good._ Suddenly the lemonade I drank felt like wet cement in my stomach.

"Andy, what aren't you telling us?" Thalia asked, setting down her mostly full glass of lemonade onto a wooden coaster on the coffee table in front of us.

"Have you guys been feeling any severe pain recently? Not like training pain, I mean feeling like you're dying."

"Not really." Thalia shrugged and placed her arms behind her head, kicking her feet up onto the coffee table. "I've been fine ever since we've lived here. The worst pain I ever felt was when I accidentally cut my hand when helping Luke make dinner."

"And that is why I keep you out of the kitchen," Luke reminded her with a teasing smile, which widened when she blushed a little. "But I haven't felt any pain, either. Only the normal soreness that comes with training with this one," – he jabbed a thumb at Thalia – "every day."

"That's good," I muttered, my fingers fidgeting with the tassels on the throw pillow in my lap. I set my glass down, afraid I was going to break it from how badly I was shaking. "Because there really isn't an easy way to say this."

"You can tell us, Andy. We'll be fine." Luke sounded so sure that it made my heart ache. This tree had been made as a way to keep them alive, not to kill them, which was exactly what was happening.

"Kyle Martin poisoned your guys' pine tree with elder python venom. To us in the mortal world, the tree is slowly dying, and with it, the camp's magical borders," I explained solemnly, forcing my hands to still as they clutched at the pillow.

"How lovely," Luke sighed, placing his head in his hands. When he looked up again, I found myself staring at the scar that ran down the length of the left side of his face, a wound he'd received on our mad dash back from Grand Central Station.

"I never trusted the guy," Thalia said, standing up from the couch and beginning to pace, little volts of electricity flaring up between her fingers. "He always gave me the heebie-jeebies."

"With good reason," I agreed, breathing a deep sigh of relief. They were taking the news much better than I thought.

"What did the little monster _do?"_

"Other than poison your tree? He stole the Master Bolt and the Helm of Darkness, which almost caused a civil war between the Olympians last summer. He also used to abuse the kids in the Hermes cabin until I beat him in battle, taking the title of head counselor from him."

Luke looked downright murderous, his jaw clenched and his knuckles white around his empty glass of lemonade. He was making this growling noise in the back of his throat, like he was debating the best way on how to punch his brother's lights out. Thalia's electric blue eyes swirled in anger, like I was watching a supercell form right in her irises. The sparks between her fingers grew bigger and stronger, giving off the smell of ozone.

"Thank you for defeating that bastard," Thalia spat. "Who is he to get off on beating innocent children? He better have a damn good reason, and even that wouldn't be enough."

"If his stupid venom doesn't kill us first, I'm going to tear him to pieces," Luke threatened, the soft light glowing on his scar giving him an almost evil expression. I could imagine him in Kyle's place, and now I knew why Percy had always been so nervous about facing the guy. Like it or not, Luke was extremely intimidating when he was angry.

"I refuse to let you guys die. There's something that can help you heal, but Tantalus is being a first rate jerk at the moment." I gritted my teeth in anger at the thought of the easily ticked off activities director. "I don't care about my punishment. I'll make sure you guys are healed."

"You don't have to do that," Thalia said, her anger starting to fade out of her voice.

"You've done more than enough for us," Luke agreed, standing up and wrapping an arm around Thalia's waist. She leaned into Luke's shoulder, exhaling deeply through her nose. "If the Fates will our strings to be cut, we can live with that."

 _Too long,_ I heard the Fates whisper in my head, causing me to scowl at the pressure I was feeling behind my eyes. Seriously, as some of the most ancient and powerful beings in existence, you'd think they could find a better form of communication that didn't involve headaches, but no-o-o.

 _She has said too much._

 _Nothing that will change the outcome._

 _Still, it is time for her to go._

"For the love of Olympus, argue outside of my mind. Please and thank you," I said, pressing my palms against my eyes in an attempt to alleviate the pressure. It helped. When I saw Luke and Thalia looking at me weirdly, I said, "The Fates are using my mind as a debate stage. It's not the most pleasant of feelings."

"The Fates speak to you?" Luke asked curiously.

"Sometimes. Gives me a headache every time."

 _We're sorry about that._

"No, you're not."

 _It's the most efficient way, however._

I sighed. "Whatever you say, Clotho."

 _Hey, what about me?_

 _And me?_

"Yes, you're both as annoying as your sister, Atropos and Lachesis. Now, if you could either do something or leave, much appreciated."

 _Say goodbye to your friends. I'm afraid you won't be seeing them for a few more weeks._

"I know, I know." I turned to Luke and Thalia, giving them a warm smile. "It's time for me to go. Duty calls and all that."

 _A very important duty._

Ignoring Atropos, I waved at my friends as I felt my vision begin to fade, letting me know I was getting pulled out of the vision. Sometimes I really hate the Fates.

 _The feeling's mutual._

Hey!


	21. Chapter 21

When I came to after my Fates-induced vision, I found myself surrounded by a bunch of campers and naiads. I was about to ask what was going on when I felt someone pressing their hands against my chest like they were trying to break my ribs.

"She's awake!" someone shouted, and the hands stopped immediately.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think someone was performing CPR on me.

Gods, I hoped no one tried mouth-to-mouth. I would've hate having my first kiss stolen from me like that.

"Disperse," someone else ordered, pushing their way through the crowd that had huddled around me. A lot of the people groaned, but they listened anyways, returning back to whatever it was they were doing before deciding to watch me.

I sat up, shivering as I realized that my clothes were completely soaked and the sun had begun to set. Had I really been in that vision for a few hours? It only seemed like a few minutes.

"Andromeda, what in the name of my father just happened?" Mr. D asked impatiently, tapping his foot up and down despite levitating a few inches off the ground. I guess he didn't want to get his shoes dirty.

"A vision," I told him, still regaining my bearings. I usually had to deal with the aftereffects of vertigo and nausea and generally feeling miserable after a vision. Isn't it great to be the Fates plaything?

Mr. D's expression changed from one of anger to one of understanding. For some reason, the Fates particularly enjoyed hijacking my mind during my week with Dionysus. I didn't really know why, but I figured it had something to do with the fact that Mr. D was the god of insanity, which could definitely have occurred after some of the things I was forced to witness.

"Everyone to their cabins, now!" Campers dropped what they were doing and hightailed it back to their cabins, not wanting to face the wrath of an angry camp director.

I finally looked to my right, where I found Percy, Annabeth, and Tyson staring at me with mixed expressions. Annabeth and Percy were visibly distraught while Tyson was plain confused, putting his hands over one another like you were supposed to do in CPR and pumping the air in front of him.

Mr. D turned to yell at them, but I raised a hand, promising him that they'd be back in their cabins by the normal curfew. He agreed with a curt nod of his head before disappearing with the wind, leaving behind the scent of wine grapes.

"I didn't think Mr. D liked anyone," Percy commented, still troubled about what had happened to me.

"We have an interesting relationship to say the least," I replied, allowing my skin to heat itself up to the point where it could dry my clothes without catching fire.

"How are neither one of you concerned about the fact that Andy almost drowned?!" Annabeth demanded angrily.

"The nice girl drowned?" Tyson asked with a frown, the words sounding foreign in his mouth.

"Actually, I can't drown."

I sighed in relief once my clothes were done drying, hating the feeling of wet shoes and socks. Of course the Fates couldn't wait until I was in a safe spot. I'd probably fallen into the lake the moment I'd blacked out, slumping forward from the way I'd been sitting when I was working on my chariot.

"But you're not a daughter of Poseidon," Annabeth protested. "I know you haven't been claimed, but honestly, I'd think you were a daughter of Hephaestus from the way you can control fire. And Hephaestus children can all drown."

I frowned. Had she already forgotten about the discussion we had about my father last year? I mean, I'm not going to correct her if she's forgotten. The fewer people who knew, the better.

"Want me to show you?"

"Kinda, yeah," Percy said, having taken Annabeth's side on the argument. So good to know that they had expected me to drown.

I took off my shoes and socks before jumping into the lake, willing the water to push me to the bottom. Thankfully, I could withstand any pressure underwater like Percy could as a son of Poseidon, the only real difference in our powers being that I can't stay dry in the water. I mean, I can't cause earthquakes or volcanic eruptions either, but that was a good thing, in my opinion.

I stayed and held a conversation with some naiads for five minutes, much longer than almost anyone could hold their breath and not suffer serious brain damage. Then, using the lake floor as a launching pad, I pushed off and began to swim to the surface, enjoying the silence in the water.

When I broke the surface, I had the water lift me onto the dock, wanting to demonstrate that like Percy, I can't drown in normal water. Magic water on the other hand, well, that's a lot messier.

"Believe me now?" I kneeled over the edge of the dock, ringing some of the water out of my hair. Once again, I let my skin heat up to dry off my clothes.

Both Annabeth and Percy were pale. Meanwhile, Tyson clapped enthusiastically, saying, "Do your water magic again, Andy!"

I obliged, summoning some water from the lake and shaping it into a ball. I began playing catch with Tyson, making sure to keep the water from losing its shape every time Tyson caught the delicate ball in his ginormous hands. This was actually a very good method of training mental precision and multitasking, I thought to myself, finally setting the water back down into the lake as curfew was approaching.

"What…but…how?" Percy spluttered out, unable to settle on a single question to ask me.

"Probably my godly parent." I began lacing up my sneakers, trying to bite back my laughter as Percy kept struggling to form a coherent thought.

"But Dad would've claimed you by now!"

"Percy, I'm twenty. If Poseidon was my father, the Great Prophecy would've passed by now."

"You're right," Annabeth agreed. I could see the gears in her mind turning as she tried to figure how the heck I had water powers when I had no connection to any water deity. "That rules out Zeus and Hades, too."

"Are you my sister?" Tyson asked, completely lost in terms of the conversation. Annabeth shot him a dirty look.

"No, sorry, bud." He looked so saddened by the fact that I added, "But we can be friends."

"Yay, friend!"

Tyson ran over and gave me a bone crushing hug. Gods, I could feel my ribs touching each other, something that shouldn't even be anatomically possible unless he just broke all of them. But seeing that I wasn't suffocating, I let Tyson hold onto me for as long as he wanted while Annabeth stared at us in disgust.

"We can talk more tomorrow, I promise. But I need to uphold my promise to Mr. D, too, and that means it's curfew."

"Are you sleeping with us tonight?" Percy asked.

"I practically live in cabin three, Perce. Plus, it's not like I can just waltz back into cabin eleven and ask for my spot on the floor back."

"You could."

"But I won't."

Percy shrugged. "I mean, if Dad hasn't said anything about it, I don't think there's anything wrong with it."

"You're both crazy. Goodnight," Annabeth said, walking ahead of us to make it back to her cabin before our regularly scheduled curfew was enforced by the cleaning harpies.

Words of wisdom from the daughter of Athena.

* * *

The day of the chariot race was finally upon us.

Tantalus had canceled all afternoon activities for the chariot race, trilling in that ear-splitting voice of his, "Attendance is mandatory! I'd hate to see anyone get eaten by the cleaning harpies!"

Cleo and I had spent the last few days between the forges and the arts and crafts building as we added the finishing touches and tweaks to our chariot. I'd done a majority of the wielding and engineering stuff as I'd studied under Hephaestus and knew chariots like the back of my hand.

Cleo had helped designed the wheels, doing all the calculations about how many spokes we should have and how thick they should be. If we made the wheels thicker, we'd have more stability but have to sacrifice speed and vice versa. We finally compromised, and Cleo had built the wheels with both of us agreeing if anything went terribly wrong with our wheels, I'd use the water in the air to take its place.

Hey, Tantalus had said nothing about the use of powers on the sign-up sheet, so I figured everything was pretty much fair game. The only real rule he'd put in place was that we weren't allowed to kill each other.

Cleo wheeled our chariot out onto the track while I held our horses' reigns in my hand, waiting to attack their harnesses. Our horses were two coffee brown thoroughbreds, powerful and fast. They'd been delighted to learn that I understood them, promising me that they would give it their all to make sure we'd win.

The grand prize of the whole race was that the winning cabin didn't have to do chores for a whole month. And I don't know about you, but not having to spend time shoveling horse manure out of the stables in the insufferable sun was enough to convince me to join.

After harnessing our horses, Cleo walked over with her bow slung over her shoulder, her quiver full of nasty, trick-filled arrows. I was going to be the driver, but if push came to shove, Cleo and I would switch positions as I was the better close-quarter fighter.

In the trees, tons of black pigeons started to flock onto the branches. In fact, there were so many of them that the sound of their wings flapping was enough to drown out conversations by the trees. Their beaks glinted in the sunlight, as if they were made of steel. Their eyes were shinier than any other pigeon I'd ever seen before.

Styx, I swore to myself. Stymphalian birds.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Percy and Annabeth arguing over something, probably the dream Percy had last night. He had spoken to Grover, who had discovered the location of the Golden Fleece on Polyphemus' Island.

"Charioteers!" Tantalus called. "To your mark!"

I climbed into our chariot's basket, Cleo following behind me. Grabbing the reins, I positioned us at the starting line and stared straight ahead, refusing to be intimidated by the other cabins. Cleo was the one in charge of telling me what we were up against, and she was very accurate and concise, so I had hope.

Once the track had been cleared of other campers, and all the racers were at the starting line, Tantalus shouted, "Charioteers! Attend your mark!"

Then he dropped his hand, and chaos ensued. I flicked the reins, our chariot lurching forward so quickly I thought I was going to fly out the back end. Within seconds, I heard a worrying _crack!_ I didn't look back, urging our horses forward, while Cleo said, "Hermes and Apollo are out!"

In front of us were the Athena and Ares cabins, while Tyson tried to swat at Cleo with the giant ten-foot pole Percy had given him. The Hephaestus cabin was dangerously close to us as well.

Cleo ducked and launched a hydra arrow at the wheels of the Hephaestus chariot, who still managed to shoot off three sets of balls and chains at the wheels of Percy's chariot. I swerved a little to the left, our wheels creaking under the pressure, pulling ahead of Percy.

Behind us, I heard Tyson swat away the balls and chains from his wheels before hearing his pole connect with someone. I would've been hit, too, if it wasn't for Cleo tugging my shirt down, swearing under her breath as she let loose an explosive arrow right in front of Percy's horses, causing them to rear up in fright. But it hadn't been enough to completely knock them out of the competition, the pounding of hooves right behind us.

The Athena chariot's fighter had taken on a more serious look, picking up at javelin and pointing it directly at my chest. I waited for him to throw it, smirking to myself when I shadow-traveled the spear to take out the axle on the wheels of the Ares cabin.

If you haven't noticed by now, the wheels are the weakest point of the whole chariot. Take them out, and you take out the entire team.

Clarisse scowled at the spear, yelling at her fighter to attack the Athena cabin.

Cleo had been preparing to launch another arrow at Percy's chariot, who was now only ten feet, give or take, behind us. But her shot was interrupted when I heard screaming.

 _Take over for me,_ I instructed the horses, turning to see what was going on.

The Stymphalian birds were dive-bombing the spectators in the crowd as well as attacking other chariots. They swarmed Beckendorf and his fighter, causing for their chariot to plow straight into the strawberry fields, their mechanical horses steaming. Clarisse barked an order to her fighter, who threw up a camouflage net that shimmered as they moved, making them much harder prey.

Two can play it that way, I thought to myself, bending the shadows around us so that we were mostly covered. I didn't feel like getting my skin pecked at, and I sure as hell wasn't going to let Cleo get hurt because of some stupid birds.

"Stymphalian birds!" Annabeth shouted, slowing her chariot down next to Percy's. I did the same. "They'll strip everyone to bones if we don't drive them away!"

"Tyson," Percy said, turning his chariot to face the spectators, "we're turning around!"

"Going the wrong way?" he asked.

"Always," Percy grumbled, driving off with Annabeth towards the stands, leaving Cleo and me in the dust.

"How are we going to beat these things?" Cleo yelled, slashing her knife across one of the birds that managed to make it through our cloak of darkness.

"Loud noise!" I had to shout or else she wouldn't have heard me over the cacophony of people screaming and the beating of thousands of wings. "Do you have any sonic arrows on you?"

Cleo dropped onto one knee, and I slowed down our horses to prevent her from falling out. "Three," she said, notching one onto her bow. "Tell me when."

"Not yet," I said, watching as Clarisse crossed the finish line unopposed. She then yelled at Percy and Annabeth, who had taken off towards the Big House, while drawing her sword and running into the crowd. I waited two more seconds before yelling, "Now!"

The daughter of Apollo aimed right in the middle of the cluster, her arrow sounding with a screeching _wheeeeeee!_ before exploding in midair, managing to take down two of the birds while sending the rest of them into a frenzy.

Seconds later, the sound of violins and men moaning in Italian flooded across the track. The Stymphalian birds went even crazier, slamming into each other like they were trying to see who could bash their brains out first. The birds swarmed together, coalescing into one large, dark mass in the air above the track.

"Now!" Annabeth called out. "Archers!"

I summoned my own bow and joined the rest of the Apollo kids, nocking at least four or five arrows per shot like the other archers. Next to me, Cleo's face was glowing with determination, trying to keep up with the archery skills of her siblings. We shot together in silence, focused on taking out the rest of these demon pigeons.

After a few minutes of suffering through Dean Martin, all of the Stymphalian birds were on the ground, dead. My fingers ached from the speed of my shooting, but despite that, I told Cleo to hold onto our chariot. Might as well finish if we can.

Our chariot pulled across the finish line in second place, and we stepped down, trying to steady ourselves now that we weren't standing on a moving surface. I took the harnesses off our horses, promising them some juicy apples later for their hard work.

I looked around at all the damage, frowning to myself. While Camp Half-Blood was still standing, half our strawberry fields had been run over by chariots, and everyone had been hurt. Then there were the Aphrodite children, shrieking their heads off because of damaged hair and clothes covered in poop.

"Seriously?" Cleo asked incredulously, shaking her head in disappointment. "The majority of them are bleeding, and they care about their _hair?"_

"Bravo!" Tantalus said, preventing me from saying anything to Cleo. "We have our first winners!" He walked over to where we were standing at the finish line and awarded the golden laurels for the race to a stunned-looking Clarisse. Then, he pulled out two silver medals from the pocket of his prison jumpsuit and handed them to Cleo and me.

Then, he turned and gave one of his revolting smiles at Percy and Annabeth. The guy wasn't even looking at me, yet I shivered in disgust anyways. "And now to punish the troublemakers who disrupted this race."

Tantalus decreed that Percy, Annabeth, and Tyson had been responsible for the Stymphalian birds attacking, and as such, gave them kitchen patrol for the next week. Percy didn't help matters when he said, "Go chase a doughnut!" causing Tantalus to decide that we were going to have a feast of country-fried Stymphalian bird for lunch that day.

"I think I just might go vegetarian," Cleo said, slightly green in the face at the idea of having to eat the birds we just shot down.

"Agreed," I said, kicking away one of the bird corpses that had been by my foot.

And true to our word, we didn't eat any of the Stymphalian bird, earning us some weird looks from Tantalus. He probably thought that as second place winners, we'd be celebrating by joining in on the feast, but I wasn't in the mood for monster bird for lunch today. Instead, I ate a small salad.

After lunch, I felt my stomach lurch at the sight of so many plates stacked up for my friends to clean. Kitchen patrol was dangerous work for anyone that wasn't fireproof, as the cleaning harpies washed everything with piping hot lava, fresh from the Earth's mantle. Any demigod who ended up on kitchen patrol had to wear asbestos gloves and aprons to make sure they didn't burn to death.

"Hey, I'm gonna help Percy, Annabeth, and Tyson," I told Cleo after lunch.

She snorted, knowing that I was going to help even though I hadn't said anything to her during lunch. "Have fun cleaning, Ms. Fireproof. See ya at the campfire!"

"Really?" I asked, causing Cleo to laugh as she skipped off with the rest of her siblings.

I shook my head in amusement before grabbing one of those large plastic bins that bus boys in restaurants used, filling the bin with as many plates as I could. Then, I walked into the kitchen, where Percy and Annabeth were already covered in sweat as they scrubbed at the plates. Tyson had taken to making boats in the lava with the utensils and spoons, playing with them in the same way a toddler played with toys in a bathtub.

I wordlessly joined the trio, stopping in front of my own sink and beginning to wash off the bird crumbs with a lava spray gun. Annabeth had told Percy the story about the Golden Fleece after he told her about his dreams of Grover, the both of them coming to the conclusion that a quest needed to be issued.

"Tantalus will never agree to that," I said, causing the both of them to jump in fright. Percy even dropped the plate he'd been washing into the lava.

"Andy, what are you doing here?" Annabeth asked, her lips pressed together in a fine line, clearly upset about my presence. I guess she had been hoping to keep her thoughts under wraps for as long as possible.

"The nice girl has been here the whole time," Tyson pointed out, drying some utensils with a rag he'd gotten from under the sink. "She helped wash."

"Why? This wasn't even your punishment."

"Because I want you guys to make it to the campfire tonight. Do I need to have an ulterior motive to help you guys out?"

"Lay off her, Annabeth," Percy said, wiping away the sweat from his forehead with the sleeve of his t-shirt. "She just wanted to help."

"If that's the case, tell us why you and Cleo decided to cross the finish line during the chariot race. Did you even care about the camp being attacked by the Stymphalian birds?"

"There were less people by the finish line," I told Annabeth truthfully, surprisingly calm for being accused of being indifferent. "Plus, Cleo needed a better angle to shoot her supersonic arrow from. And I did care about the attack. I helped the Apollo kids shoot the demon pigeons down."

"Yes!" Percy cheered, causing for Annabeth and me to look at him weirdly. He blushed. "Sorry, I thought I was the only one who thought they looked like demon pigeons."

"Fine," Annabeth said, not sounding too happy about my story. "If Tantalus won't agree, we'll have to pressure him into it."

"Do it during the campfire," Percy said. "That way, he'll have to argue with us in front of everyone else. Maybe the others will side with us."

"They probably will. No one likes Tantalus, not even Mr. D," I said, pulling the plug out of my sink, the lava beginning to drain in a fiery whirlpool. I dried my hands off with a rag, the fabric beginning to steam from the embers that were stuck to my skin.

"It's a plan," Annabeth agreed, setting down the lava spray gun. She then chucked all the freshly washed dishes into a plastic bin and shoved it towards a conveyer belt that would give them their extra shiny, Olympus approved gleam.

"It's a plan," Tyson repeated happily.

I smiled. Good, everything was falling into place.

* * *

The campfire that night was the most depressing thing I've been to in a long time, and this is coming from a girl who watched some of her closest friends have mental breakdowns as they cried and chucked their textbooks halfway across the library, all because they couldn't understand that day's biology lesson.

Ah, the wonders of college life.

Like most things at camp, the fire pit was enchanted, reacting with the audience. On a good night, I'd seen the fire burn a bright blue at twenty-five feet, the heat strong enough to light the first three rows' marshmallows on fire. The Apollo cabin would do their sing-along, and the crowd would respond, screaming back the lyrics at the top of their lungs like we were at a concert.

Tonight, however, the fire was struggling to stay at five feet, was as gray as lint, and cold. No one was trying to make a s'more; the day's events had left all of us too worn out for even that simple joy.

The Apollo cabin tried to raise everyone's spirits, but even they weren't into it, their enthusiasm clearly forced. I knew things were grim when Cleo kept playing wrong notes on her lyre, her face impassive as she robotically played the strings.

Even Mr. D couldn't bear to stay more than a few minutes, grumbling under his breath that pinochle games with Chiron had been more interesting than this. He gave Tantalus a distasteful look before walking away, unwilling to watch this miserable sight any longer.

When the last song was blessedly over, Tantalus said, "Well, that was lovely!"

He walked forward, holding a long stick with a toasted marshmallow skewered on the end. He then reached for the marshmallow real casual like, but before he could touch it, the marshmallow flew into the fire, committing suicide. I bit back a smirk.

Tantalus turned back toward us, smiling coldly. Gods, for someone who couldn't eat or drink anything, he needed some major dental work. "Now then! Some announcements about tomorrow's schedule."

"Sir," Percy said, standing up from his seat.

From back here, I could see Tantalus's eye twitch in irritation. "Our kitchen boy has something to say?"

Some of the Ares campers snickered, but Percy stood firm, not allowing embarrassment to make him back down. He glanced over at where the Athena cabin was sitting, and Annabeth stood up.

Oh, what the heck? I stood up, too.

"We have an idea to save the camp."

I knew Percy had grabbed everyone's attention, because suddenly, the fire glowed a bright yellow.

"Indeed," Tantalus said blandly. "Well, if it has anything to do with chariots-"

"The Golden Fleece," Percy interrupted. "We know where it is."

The flame's color shifted again, this time burning a vibrant orange, the same kind I'd seen burn at Hestia's hearth back on Olympus. It also happened to match the shade of our camp shirts. Percy then began blurting out his dream about Grover and Polyphemus while Tantalus continually tried to stop him, resulting in Percy only speaking over him.

At one point, Annabeth stepped in, giving background information on the Golden Fleece and the potential it had. Her words helped solidify the argument, making it seem like we had concrete evidence to work with and weren't just grasping at straws.

"The Fleece can save the camp," Annabeth concluded. "I'm certain of it."

"Nonsense," Tantalus said, motioning for her to sit down with the wave of his hand. She didn't. "We don't need saving."

We all glared at him, causing him to squirm uncomfortably under our gazes. Good, that serves him right.

"Besides," he added quickly, noticeably wanting for our glares to cease, "the Sea of Monsters? That's hardly an exact location. You wouldn't even know where to look."

"Yes, I would," Percy said.

Annabeth, who had walked over to stand next to Percy in the middle of her speech, leaned over and whispered something in his ear. He nodded, his eyes shining with determination in the glow of the firelight.

"30, 31, 75, 12," Percy said, earning himself looks of confusion from everyone.

"Ooo-kay," Tantalus said. "Thank you for sharing those meaningless numbers."

"They're sailing coordinates," he continued, blatantly ignoring Tantalus. "Latitude and longitude. I, uh, learned about it in social studies."

Even Annabeth looked impressed, her mind visibly working double time as she processed the new information. "30 degrees, 31 minutes north, 75 degrees, 12 minutes west. He's right! The Gray Sisters gave us those coordinates. That'd be somewhere in the Atlantic, off the coast of Florida. The Sea of Monsters. We need a quest!"

"We need a quest!" I began to chant, those nearby quickly taking up the cheer.

"Wait just a minute," Tantalus said.

But it was too late. "We need a quest! We need a quest!" we all chanted, the fire rising higher in response to our voices.

"It isn't necessary!" Tantalus insisted.

"WE NEED A QUEST! WE NEED A QUEST!"

"Fine!" Tantalus shouted, his eyes smoldering with anger. "You brats want me to assign a quest?"

"YES!"

"Very well," he agreed. "I shall authorize a champion to undertake this perilous journey, to retrieve the Golden Fleece and bring it back to camp. Or die trying. I will allow our champion to consult the Oracle! And choose two companions for the journey. And I think the choice of champion is obvious."

He glared at Percy and Annabeth like he wanted to flay them alive, which wouldn't have been much of a surprise considering what he'd done to his own children, before turning back to the rest of us. "The champion should be one who has earned the camp's respect, who has proven resourceful in the chariot races and courageous in the defense of the camp. _You_ shall lead this quest…Clarisse!"

The fire flickered a thousand different colors, like a TV screen going haywire. I averted my eyes, not wanting to hurt my eyesight. Yeah, I knew Hephaestus should have waited for me to leave before trying out his new TV, which had left me unable to see for a few hours.

The Ares cabin started stomping and cheering, "CLARISSE! CLARISSE!"

Clarisse stood up, stunned about the decision. Then she swallowed, and her chest swelled with pride. "I accept the quest!"

Great, now it's time to deal with the aftermath.


	22. Chapter 22

After enduring Tantalus' horrible story about how he was punished for feeding his children to the gods and a reminder about curfew, I snuck out to the beach. Sue me for wanting to get away from the psycho, but I really wanted to clear my head before the mess I was about to get myself into.

I sat down on the cooled sand, the waves only spraying me with their mist as a gentle breeze blew. Gods, I wished I lived by a beach in my old home. I would've spent my whole day there with a bunch of books and be perfectly content.

There was a full moon shining in the sky, casting its silver glow across the water, creating the surface of the ocean to shimmer as waves rolled onto the shore. In the distance, I could hear the dryads laughing as they chased owls through the forest, something I didn't think Athena would be too keen on.

I fiddled with my bracelet, which helped calm me down. I'd been dreading this moment for a while now, especially after my last encounter with the messenger god. We were still friends, as far as I knew, but we were currently in the stage where we needed to stay away from each other, or we wouldn't be friends anymore.

To my surprise, even after the harsher curfew restrictions, none of the harpies had found me yet. I wasn't complaining, mindlessly drawing doodles in the sand with my finger before the waves would wash them away.

Eventually, after what felt like an hour, I saw Percy walk onto the beach with a red and white checkered blanket and a six-pack of Cokes. He noticed me and splayed out his blanket, patting the spot next to him.

I took a seat next to Percy, declining the Coke he offered me. Percy shrugged and popped the tab on his can, sipping at the soda in the same way someone would drink their coffee. For a demigod, it was basically the same thing because of the caffeine. For some reason, caffeine helped many demigods with their ADHD, but others, like the Stoll brothers, shouldn't be allowed within a hundred mile radius of the stuff.

I'd only ever seen the Stoll brothers hopped up on caffeine once, and it's something I hope I never experience ever again. I still remember the ugly shade of green they'd dyed my hair after throwing a water balloon full of magic hair dye at the back of my head.

Percy began pointing out different constellations – Ursa Major, Hercules, Orion – when somebody said, "Beautiful, aren't they?"

Percy choked on his soda.

I recognized Hermes' voice instantly but stayed silent, wanting to see how this would play out. Hermes was dressed in red nylon running shorts and a New York City Marathon t-shirt, the same clothes he'd wear when we trained up on Olympus. His hair had more gray than I last remembered, giving the impression of salt-and-pepper hair instead of his dark brown locks.

To my right, Percy eyed Hermes up and down, probably trying to figure out how the heck a mortal had managed to jog right into camp. Honestly, it wouldn't surprise me if a mortal could pass through the weakening barrier, but we were secluded enough from the rest of the world that I wasn't really concerned.

Unless the Stoll brothers took advantage of the weak borders and called the pizza man again (long story).

"May I join you?" Hermes asked Percy, sparing me a brief glance before returning his attention to the son of Poseidon. "I haven't sat down in ages."

That I could believe. Whenever Hermes wasn't training me, he was running around the world, delivering millions of packages and mail with his Hermes Express company that was founded, owned, and run by Hermes himself. Sometimes, he'd send me on my own mail runs to give him some time to answer business emails and texts.

"Uh, sure," Percy said.

Hermes smiled. "Your hospitality does you credit. Oh, and Coca-Cola! May I?"

He took a seat at the end of the blanket, popped open a can, and took a drink. "Ah…that hits the spot. Peace and quiet at-" His phone began to ring.

"Spoke too soon," I muttered softly, knowing that Hermes could hear me while Percy couldn't.

Hermes sighed and pulled out his phone, allowing for a bluish light to shine around it. When he extended the antenna, it turned into a small caduceus, George and Martha entwined around the pole, though they were smaller than most earthworms.

He accepted a call about Prometheus' lost package and ignored Demeter, causing me to wince. Last time Hermes had put Demeter off, she killed all the flowers in the floristry department, causing a lot of complaints that yours truly had to deal with.

The two of them spoke, while I zoned out, having this conversation already committed to memory. I mean, if I really wanted to, I could pull out my copy of _The Sea of Monsters_ right now and read their conversation as it happened. Except doing that would completely blow my cover, so I returned to doodling in the sand.

I zoned back in when I heard Hermes say, "I would make up your mind in the next five minutes if I were you. That's when the harpies will come to eat you. Now, good night cousin and aunt, and dare I say it? May the gods go with you."

He opened his palm, his caduceus flying into his hand. Percy was glancing down at the gifts Hermes had given him – three large, waterproof duffel bags, a bottle of Hermes' multivitamins, and a thermos from the show _Hercules Busts Heads_ – while I glared at the god.

"Hermes!" I shouted in anger, but he vanished with the sea breeze once he was twenty paces away. I debated following the god to kick him where the sun doesn't shine, but I didn't, instead digging my nails into my palms until it stung.

Annabeth and Tyson came running down to us after Hermes had disappeared. Annabeth had her dagger in her hand and her head on a swivel, looking around the beach for potential threats. Tyson had his hands in fists, like he was waiting to smash the head in of whoever had been trying to hurt Percy.

"What's going on?" Annabeth asked. "I heard you guys calling for help!"

"Me, too!" Tyson said. "Heard you yell, 'Bad things are attacking!'"

"We didn't call you guys," Percy said. "We're fine."

"But then who…" Annabeth trailed off, noticing the three yellow duffel bags at our feet, then the thermos and the bottle of vitamins Percy was holding. "What-"

"Not enough time," I cut in, giving them the run down. When I finished, the harpies screeched in the distance, much closer than before. That meant they were picking up on our scent, cutting down on our time even more. I glanced back at the shoreline, scowling at the lights glowing from the _Princess Andromeda._ Oh, how I hated sharing a name with that cursed ship.

"You three get to that ship," I told them, picking up a duffel bag and shoving one into each of their arms. "Percy, pray to your father for help, like Hermes said."

"What about you?" Annabeth asked, adjusting the straps of her duffel bag as Percy prayed aloud to Poseidon. "You're going to get in trouble for breaking curfew, too. And we'll need your help if we're going to the Sea of Monsters."

"I'll meet up with you guys one way or another, I promise, but right now, you need to get on that ship."

The harpies screeched again, sounding as if they were right behind the sand dunes. Suddenly, three elegant hippocampi broke the surface of the water, stopping on the shore for the three of them to get on. Their entire body was silver, but their back ends had glistening scales and rainbow tail fins that glimmered in the moonlight.

Tyson audibly gasped. "Fish ponies!"

"Hippocampi! They're beautiful."

The one closest to Annabeth nuzzled her hand, inviting her to get on.

"We'll admire them later," Percy said, jostling Tyson to break his stupor. "Come on!"

"There!" a harpy screeched behind us. "Bad children out of cabins! Snack time for lucky harpies!"

I pulled out my Stygian iron hunting knives, causing for the winged chicken-ladies to hiss and bare their teeth at me. "I'll hold them off!" I shouted at the trio, who were still struggling to get Tyson to stop staring at the hippocampi. "Good luck! Don't die!"

When I heard the hippocampi take off into the open ocean behind me, I lifted a hand up, the water creating a barrier to give my friends some time to put some distance between them and the camp. The harpies were upset and tried to attack me, but after I grazed one of their sister's with my knives, they stayed out of my reach, hissing and threatening that they were going to eat me.

I then dropped the wall of water and dissolved into mist, watching as the harpies turned to each other, bemoaning the fact that they had lost their midnight snacks. I traveled back to the Poseidon cabin, glad that we had a general rule to always keep the window open.

I landed at the foot of my bunk and flopped into bed, exhausted by everything that had happened today. How was it possible that the chariot races had only been seven or so hours ago?

Within seconds of my head touching the pillow, I was out like a light.

* * *

I woke up the next morning to the sound of someone trying to break down the door.

Rubbing the sleep out of my eyes, I blearily made my way to the door, managing to have tripped over a bundle of Tyson's equipment he'd brought up from the forges. I yawned and opened the door, blinking twice as I saw a nervous-looking Clarisse standing on the doorstep.

She would never admit to being nervous, and the way she held herself didn't give it away, either. No, I knew Clarisse was nervous by the dark circles under her eyes and the fact that I could see she'd bitten her nails down to the nailbed, to the point where she was almost bleeding. Her fingers were fidgeting as well, like she didn't know what to do with her hands.

Strapped to Clarisse's back were two spears and one of those camp-issued backpacks that were given to newcomers. She had a water bottle in one of the side pockets and a sheathed dagger in the other. I figured she had her provisions inside her backpack – a change of clothes, some mortal money and drachmas, and ambrosia and/or nectar.

"Clarisse," I said, my voice thick with sleep. "Can I help you?"

The daughter of Ares scowled at the ground, like she was having a serious issue with talking to me right now. She swallowed and said, "Will you be one of my companions on this quest?"

I blinked, not having expected that. "You hate me," I reminded her, crossing my arms across my chest.

"So does the rest of my cabin," Clarisse said nonchalantly, as if that would help her case. "But none of my siblings are willing to come along, and no way will I get help from those know-it-all Athena kids."

"Why me?"

"Because you're a good fighter and have connections, something I need."

"Okay," I agreed, seeming to stun Clarisse, who had been ready to keep talking. "Give me five minutes, and I'll meet you by the dining pavilion."

I changed into a purple shirt with silver flower details around the hem, my favorite pair of quest jeans, and my black combat boots that I'd modified by adding Celestial bronze to the tips, meaning if I kicked a monster hard enough, they'd disintegrate on impact. I pulled my hair back and headed out for the dining pavilion.

After meeting up with Clarisse, we left Camp Half-Blood and headed for the Amtrak station, which would take us as far south as Richmond, Virginia. Clarisse told me how we were going to get into the Sea of Monsters, saying that her father had prepared her a ship to use that was docked in Chesapeake Bay.

The train ride was mostly uneventful other than some annoying wheat karpoi that had managed to sneak on board, yelling how wheat was superior to every other plant and that he'd rule the world. Clarisse hadn't even batted an eye, spearing the karpoi through the chest so quickly that none of the mortals noticed anything had been amiss.

Clarisse and I didn't talk if we didn't have to, which I thought was for the best. I mean, although Holly left this past year, I seriously doubt she had said good things about me. The entire Ares cabin probably thought I was some mixed child of different gods from what Holly witnessed firsthand.

The summer weather in Richmond was miserable. The humidity was so thick, I could feel my clothes sticking to my skin within five minutes of leaving the air conditioned building of the train station. Mosquitos attacked my arms despite the fact that we were in a downtown area with very minimal vegetation and not many places for mosquitos to lay their eggs.

"The docks are ten blocks down," I told Clarisse after reading a map in the middle of a plaza surrounded by various shops. "But apparently something big is in the water, because the coast guard is being very picky about boats going out to sea today."

"You can take care of that?" Clarisse asked, starting to walk quickly in the direction of the docks.

"Yes, but they have to be able to hear my voice."

"Consider it done," Clarisse said gruffly, picking up the pace, shoving her way past people who moved too slowly on the sidewalk. I tried apologizing to everyone Clarisse bumped into but gave up after six people, settling for gesturing for people to move out of our way with my hands.

Like I'd overhead in the plaza, the docks were practically void of all people. There was only one other guy, who appeared to be mooring his boat, coming in from his excursion. Under one of the bridges, I heard the sirens of the coast guard, their little white skiff jetting across the bay while one of the two men on board shouted unintelligible gibberish from his bullhorn.

"Do you know what the boat looks like?" I asked, trying to find a boat that stood out amongst the others. The majority of the boats here all looked identical, as if someone had hit the copy button too many times by mistake.

"We'll know when we see it. If I've learned anything about the gods, they aren't exactly subtle."

"Very true," I agreed, scowling at all the different piers that the docks split off into. "Split up," I said. "We'll cover more ground that way."

"Alright," Clarisse said. "Shout if you find it."

"Ditto."

I went right; Clarisse went left. I managed to check out four or five of the piers before I heard Clarisse shouting my name from the other side of the docks. I jogged over, not wanting to slip and hurt myself before the start of a quest.

"Wow," I breathed, looking up at the ship in front of me.

The ship was a dark gray, like it'd been submerged underwater for hundreds of years, and was anywhere between seventy and eighty feet in total length. On either side of the ship were two large cannons that could easily be covered by sliding metal panels. Standing alone in the smack middle of the deck was this huge, black smoke stack, indicating that this war machine ran on firepower versus a modern day motor. The cabin took up the majority of the space on the deck, giving the ship the silhouette of an oyster that had been embedded into a plank of wood.

An ironclad, I remembered from a movie on the Civil War that Ares had forced me to watch. This was a Confederate battle cruiser, whose sole purpose had been to take out Union ships.

Overlooking the metallic railing of the ship were about two dozen men dressed in light gray Confederate uniforms. From down here, their faces appeared to be perfectly normal, but I knew when I got on board, I'd see their shimmering skin over their skeletons.

There were words on the front of the hull that read _CSS Birmingham_ in bold red lettering, though the majority of the paint was covered in a layer of moss. Clarisse squinted at the ship's name, struggling to make sense of it.

"This is the _CSS Birmingham,"_ I told Clarisse. "A Confederate ironclad. This baby has a lot of firepower."

"Good, just what we need to blow Polyphemus' fat head off," Clarisse said, her eyes glinting with joy at the thought of shooting the cannons. Ares had hit the nail on the head with this one. This ship and its crew seemed to fit Clarisse's personality perfectly.

One of the Confederate sailors, the one who had the most medals on his jacket, threw over a rope ladder and shouted, "Climb aboard! We've been expecting you!"

* * *

Clarisse took the leadership role of the ship surprisingly well, ordering around dead Confederate soldiers like this was what she was born to do. Within ten minutes of us getting on the ironclad, we were already on our way south, choosing to go as far south as North Carolina before heading for the Sea of Monsters.

After sweet talking the coast guard into letting us pass, we sailed out of Chesapeake Bay. But we hadn't gone that far out – about five miles off the shoreline – when a loud roar echoed from a heavily forested area.

"Think we should check that out?" I asked Clarisse, who had already been in the middle of putting her armor over her clothes.

"I'm not taking any chances of that thing following us, especially if it's what almost kept us from leaving," Clarisse huffed, sliding on her greaves over her boots. She redid her belt that sheathed her sword at her hip, her hand resting on its hilt.

Turning to the captain of the ship, Clarisse said, "Take us toward the forest."

"Look for the mouth of a river," I added.

"Yes, Lady Clarisse," the captain said respectfully before running off to relay the message.

The air was hot and muggy, the breeze startlingly dry for sailing in the ocean. Sweat trickled down the back of my neck, and I was wearing normal clothes. I didn't even want to think about how hot Clarisse must've been in all her armor, but if she was uncomfortable, she didn't show it.

Like I'd said, there was a mouth of a river that would take us from where we were now, out in Virginia Beach, back into Chesapeake Bay. As we made it further down the river, Clarisse demanded that the engines be shut off, the low grumbling from the boat and the black smoke rising from the smokestack threatening to give away our position.

Again, the monster growled, the trees shaking from its intensity. Though we were too far away to make out anything clearly, I swear I saw something that looked like seven different snakes move from one fixed point. Bronze glinted from underneath the snakes, and one of the heads got chopped off.

"Hydra," I said, gripping the railing tightly. "We can't help from here."

"Move us closer," Clarisse barked.

"But, Lady Clarisse-"

"That's an order!"

Some of the soldiers grumbled under their breaths, but a glare from an angry daughter of Ares was enough for them to get moving. As we moved forward, Clarisse told some other soldiers to ready the cannons. This was the best way of taking down a Hydra, because we'd be at a distance from the heads that spewed acid and fire as well as cauterize the heads immediately, preventing them from reforming.

"There!" I pointed out when we got close enough.

"Prepare the thirty-two-pounder!" Clarisse shouted, wearing a look of sick fascination on her face.

"They're too close, m'lady!" the captain said.

"Damn the heroes! Full steam ahead!"

"Aye, m'lady."

"Fire at will, Captain!"

"Get down!" I shouted at Annabeth, Percy, and Tyson as the ironclad shuddered from the force of a cannon shooting a thirty-two pound cannonball.

The cannonball collided with the Hydra, causing it to explode in a spray of green monster guts before vaporizing into gold dust. I grimaced at the sight, hearing Annabeth yell, "Gross!" most likely covered with the insides of a Hydra.

We finally pulled up at the end of the river, giving way to a swampy marsh with knee-high reeds and grass that made my skin itchy just looking at it. Insects chirped away lazily in the scorching heat and gross humidity. Mosquitos swarmed over the surface of the water in ugly black clumps, making me scowl down at the river.

My eyes finally settled on Tyson, Percy, and Annabeth, all of which were completely covered in monster dust. Annabeth was swatting at her clothes and hair, trying to get the dust off of her, while Percy and Tyson stared at the ironclad.

"Losers," Clarisse sneered, her face glistening with sweat. "But I suppose I have to rescue you. Come aboard."

Bending down, I picked up the rope ladder and threw it over the side of the ship, allowing for them to make their way up. Once the three runaways were on board, Clarisse had one of the soldiers give them the official tour of our ship.

"I'm going to set our coordinates," I told her, heading down into the combined boiler and engine room, which were huffing and groaning like they were going to explode any minute. I knew of the upcoming explosion we'd have to deal with, but for the time being, I could make sure we were heading in the right direction for as long as possible.

Overhead, I heard Clarisse arguing with Annabeth and Percy about the quest and them getting involved. I sighed and took a seat next to the map charter, plugging in our coordinates by changing the numbers on rusted rings. But I wasn't too convinced by the archaic device, so I went back upstairs, planning to stay in the helm with the soldier steering the ship. However, I paused halfway up the steps, eavesdropping on the conversation going on in the tiny mess hall.

"Where are your cabin mates?" Percy asked. "You were allowed to take two friends with you, weren't you?"

"They didn't…I let them stay behind. To protect the camp," Clarisse replied gruffly.

"You mean even the people in your own cabin wouldn't help you?"

"Shut up, Prissy! I don't need my siblings! Or you!" I heard her sigh angrily. "Besides, I brought someone else along," she said so softly that I doubted Percy heard her.

"Clarisse, Tantalus is using you. He doesn't care about the camp. He'd love to see it destroyed. He's setting you up to fail."

"No! I don't care what the Oracle-" She stopped herself.

"What?" Percy asked. "What did the Oracle tell you?"

"Nothing," Clarisse snapped. "All you need to know is that I'm finishing this quest and you're _not_ helping. On the other hand, I can't let you go…"

"So we're prisoners?" Annabeth asked.

"Guests. For now."

"I'll take them to their hammocks on the berth deck," I offered, finally making myself known.

Clarisse had her feet propped up on the table, calmly drinking a Dr. Pepper, not caring about the fact that I'd probably overhead more than she would've like me to know. Tyson, who hadn't said anything, was nervously eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, the saran wrap pile growing in front of him. Annabeth and Percy looked shocked but then shrugged it off, probably remembering that I'd promised them I'd meet up with them again.

"Good. Make sure they learn about what happens to enemy spies."

I rolled my eyes. "Yes, Clarisse. C'mon guys; let me show you where you'll be sleeping."

The trio stood up and followed me downstairs.

* * *

 **Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!**

 **I love and appreciate every single one of you!**


	23. Chapter 23

I don't remember falling asleep, but I jerked to alertness, nearly landing on my face as I fell out of my chair, at the sound of all our alarm bells going off. I stood up, thankful that no one had been around to witness me jump out of my seat.

Outside the glass that separated the helm from the deck, I saw undead soldiers running around, relaying orders to each other. Underneath me, I felt the cannons getting deployed, the ship rumbling slightly as they moved into position.

I exited the helm, finding Clarisse on the spar deck with a pair of binoculars, telling the captain, "Full steam ahead!"

Percy was standing next to her, squinting at the black splotches out on the horizon – Scylla and Charybdis. Not that they were easy to make out if you didn't know about them. The sky was an overcast gray, and somehow the humidity got worse overnight. But even though the water was deceptively calm, I knew we were about to get into a lot of trouble.

The engine, which was at least eight feet below us, could be heard from up on the deck, groaning as we picked up speed. I frowned, knowing that the pistons of this ship weren't made for deep water or lengthy missions. During the Civil War, ironclads had been used on quick and dirty missions, usually only going deep enough so that the entire hull was submerged; so the fact that it had survived this long in the open ocean was a miracle in its own right.

Tyson picked up the strain on the engine, too, saying that the ship wasn't made for deep water.

As we began approaching Charybdis, I armed myself with my bow. It wasn't my preferred weapon, not by far, but when you needed to take out a person sitting in the middle of a massive whirlpool, I think it's better to shoot an arrow than try to throw a knife. Plus, if we were going to tangle with Scylla as well, I could shoot her while taking cover in the stairwell.

Beneath my feet, I could feel the deck heating up, like it was about to catch fire – heat from the boilers as they worked overtime. Smoke poured out of the smokestacks, leaving behind puffs of black clouds as we chugged on towards Charybdis. The Ares flag Clarisse had put up when we first got on board was whipping loudly in the wind, which had started to rapidly pick up.

As we got closer to the two guardians of the Sea of Monsters, Charybdis' roar got louder and louder. Percy had muttered under his breath that the whirlpool sounded like the galaxy's largest toilet was getting flushed. I couldn't help but smile at that.

As far as I could figure out, there was no method in Charybdis' timing of her whirlpool. The maelstrom would suck in water for about three minutes, destroying everything within a half-mile radius of where Charybdis was sitting. When the whirlpool stopped, Charybdis would exhale, her breath echoing across the ocean, causing for waves at least ten feet high to bash against the side of the ship, sending us backwards.

This couldn't be good for the engine, I thought to myself, before getting violently tossed into the ship's railing. I gasped as all the wind was knocked out of me, forcing myself to keep a grip on the railing so I wouldn't fall off. The sound of roaring water filled my ears.

We were getting sucked in by the whirlpool.

"Full-reverse!" Clarisse shouted over the noise. Waves were crashing onto the deck, but the iron plates of the hull and the helm were so hot that the water steamed the second it made contact with the metal. "Get us within firing range! Make ready starboard cannons!"

The dead Confederates ran back and forth, desperately trying to prepare the cannons while also pulling the propeller to reverse. The entire ship was shaking under the immense pressure the propeller was under, but it did nothing to keep us from continuing to get pulled in. If we kept taking this kind of a beating, none of us were going to make it out alive.

A sailor burst up from the hold, his clothes smoldering. His beard was on fire, but unlike Hephaestus, the fire would burn up his body. "Boiler room overheating, ma'am! She's going to blow!"

"Well, get down there and fix it!"

"Can't!" the sailor yelled. "We're vaporizing in the heat."

Clarisse pounded the side of the casemate. "All I need is a few more minutes! Just enough to get into range!"

"We're going too fast," the captain said grimly. "Prepare yourself for death."

"No!" Tyson bellowed. "I can fix it."

Clarisse looked at him incredulously. "You?"

"He's a Cyclops," Annabeth said. "He's immune to fire. And he knows mechanics."

"Go!" yelled Clarisse.

"Tyson, no!" Percy grabbed his arm, a frantic look in his eyes. "It's too dangerous!"

He patted Percy's hand. "Only way, brother. I will fix it. Be right back."

"Yeah, I'm going to go down there, too," I said, following behind Tyson and the smoldering sailor back down to the boiler room. The ship lurched again, tossing me into the wall, but I righted myself and ran into the boiler room.

The boiler room was a total war zone.

Fire was coming from all the vents, having already vaporized the majority of the Confederates that had been down here trying to keep the ship intact. Smoke filled the air, making it hard to breathe, but I picked up a rag and tied it around my mouth and nose as a filter.

Tyson hunched over the ancient engine, opening the control panel and beginning to realign all types of gears and wires. I grabbed some of the tools from the fallen soldiers and got onto my knees next to Tyson, the two of us working in perfect unison as we tried to delay the ship from falling apart.

Another jolt caused the entire ship to shake, but at least Tyson and I had managed to keep us from getting pulled even closer to Charybdis' razor sharp teeth. Then I heard someone shout, "Scylla!" above deck.

"Not good," Tyson murmured, tightening the bronze rings around the pistons, increasing the amount of strength they could give off. "Too old, too much damage."

Suddenly, the rest of the metal in the room began to glow a dangerous shade of red, indicating that we had long since passed this metal's heat capacity. I barely had time to yell, "Tyson!" leaping towards him and wrapping my arms tightly around his large chest before the engine room exploded.

My ears rang as the ship blew up around us, large chunks of metal cutting into my flesh. Within seconds, sea water was flooding our collapsed room, pouring in after the walls burst apart like a box that had just been torn open.

In my arms, Tyson had fallen unconscious, bleeding heavily from a nasty cut on his forehead. One of the gears from the engine must've cut him, I thought, cursing to myself as my head finally submerged into the pitch black water.

Honestly, I don't know how the hell I'm still alive. That shockwave should've killed us like anybody else, because being fireproof doesn't mean you're shockwave proof. My head was pounding, feeling like someone was playing whack-a-mole with me as the mole. I couldn't hear anything other than my pulse roaring in my ears, as if someone had shoved cotton balls in my head.

The debris surrounding us made it impossible for me to get my bearings, the sunlight nowhere in sight. I had to disentangle the two of us from some rigging from the ship, which had prevented me from being able to use my legs to swim.

Luckily for Tyson, as a son of Poseidon, the water helped heal the gash on his forehead, but he was still unconscious. With the same rigging I'd just gotten us out of, I made a makeshift backpack, tying the steel rope under Tyson's armpits and around his chest before tying a double knot around my waist, therefore securing Tyson while giving me a full range of motion.

I swam out of the debris, the ringing in my ears eventually subsiding, though my migraine persisted. Seriously, I should get Apollo to write me an Olympus-grade prescription for migraines seeing that I get them every time people hijacked my mind, which happened more often than I'd like.

I was quickly beginning to tire. My body was still in a state of shock from the explosion, running on adrenaline and fear alone. The second one of those things ran out, I knew I was going to pass out. My overexertion wasn't going to help matters, either.

Before anyone says anything about the ambrosia and nectar I carry with me in my bag, let me say one thing: it's not waterproof. Although I had the godly food on me, I couldn't access it without soaking all my books and notes, something I wasn't willing to do. Plus, I was too weak to make any kind of air bubble, and Tyson and I were deep under the surface, too far for me to swim with my fading energy.

Just then, I felt something brush by my foot, sending another burst of adrenaline through me. I pulled out my sword, its faint bronze light illuminating just enough for me to see about a foot in every direction.

"Who's there?" I asked, my voice completely wrecked from the amount of smoke I'd inhaled despite the rag over my mouth and nose. Maybe it slipped without my noticing. "Reveal yourself!"

 _Sorry for frightening you,_ a gentle voice said. _I've been following the young Cyclops ever since we departed at that large cruise ship._

"Rainbow?" I asked, turning around in a slow circle, trying to find the hippocampus. He showed himself in front of me, his silvery skin appearing a dark gray amidst all the darkness.

 _At your service._ He bowed his head in respect.

"We lost some of our friends," I told him. "They're here in the Sea of Monsters."

 _Do you know where they were headed?_

"Polyphemus' Island."

 _They seek the Golden Fleece?!_ Rainbow neighed nervously.

"We need it to save our home and some friends," I explained to the hippocampus. "Without it, all demigods will be hunted to extinction."

 _That doesn't sound good. Hop on. I shall help reunite you both with your friends._

I sighed in relief, feeling a huge weight lift off my shoulders. "Thank you, Rainbow," I said gratefully, seating myself on his horse upper body. He also allowed me to turn the rigging into a seatbelt, so I undid all the knots and retied the rigging so that Tyson and I were securely fastened to Rainbow's back without causing the hippocampus any discomfort.

Rainbow shot off, sending out messages to other sea life in the area to be in search of demigods within the Sea of Monsters. I rested my head against Rainbow's neck, passing out instantly.

* * *

When I came to, Tyson was also awake, cheerfully talking to the fish pony as he said. He'd also switched our positions, so he was sitting closer up to Rainbow's head while my hands were wrapped around his waist.

"Tyson?" I asked blearily, my throat sore from smoke inhalation. "Where are we?"

"Dunno," he answered. "Rainbow said some fishes saw brother and Annabeth here last night."

 _Don't go above the surface,_ Rainbow warned me. _We are next to the beach of the Sirens. While you can't drown, they will devour you should you reach the shore._

"How lovely," I said sarcastically, glancing up at the shimmering sunlight that passed into the water. I was seriously tempted to go up and listen to the Sirens, but I wasn't going to give Tyson and Rainbow the trouble of trying to keep me alive, so I told Rainbow that we should try searching for Polyphemus' Island.

For being in the middle of the Sea of Monsters, there were shockingly few monsters in the sea. We passed next to some of Hephaestus' forges, which Tyson wanted to check out but stopped after I'd remind him that our friends needed us.

The only trouble we really faced was coming face to face with a huge skolopendra. I mean, skolopendrae were known for their abnormally long length, an adult averaging thirty-five feet in length, but this one was at least fifty feet long. Thousands of its nasty red tentacles jutted out of its pink, slimy body as if a millipede had been turned inside out.

The skolopendra stank something awful – a mixture of rotten eggs and bleach and garbage that had been left out in the sun for a week. It couldn't roar, but seeing it open its pink maw wide enough to easily swallow a sperm whale was enough to make my blood run cold. Its black beady eyes were easily the size of a tractor wheel, taking note of everything in its surroundings.

We'd been planning to skirt around the skolopendra, wanting to avoid conflict as much as possible, but of course, that's not how things turned out.

Rainbow had swam deeper than the skolopendra in the hopes of avoiding detection, but as soon as we were directly underneath its ugly belly, which was coated in a thick layer of sea salt and green slime, it snapped its body downward, encasing us in a circle of tentacles.

"Bad snakes!" Tyson shouted, slapping at the tentacles that were trying to pry him off of Rainbow's back. Luckily for us, our harness was still intact, so we couldn't be separated unless a tentacle snapped us in half.

I scowled and pulled out my hunting knives, knowing that the more of skolopendra's soul went into the blade, the weaker it'd become. I offered Tyson one of my daggers, but he shook his head, saying that he didn't like hurting sea creatures. I then shadow-traveled a wooden club to my hand and passed it to Tyson, who accepted this weapon.

"Keep the tentacles away from Rainbow's face!" I told him, slicing a handful of tentacles that had wrapped around the hippocampus' tail. But for every tentacle I slashed, two more took its place, like I was fighting the Hydra instead of one of the most loathsome sea serpents in all of Greek mythology.

"Leave Rainbow alone!" became Tyson's war cry, bringing his club down so harshly against the tentacles it was a wonder it hadn't snapped.

 _We need to get out of here!_ Rainbow said in a panicky voice.

"We're trying here," I muttered, cutting away a tentacle that had wrapped around my ankle.

Then, I had a crazy idea. Before Tyson or Rainbow noticed what I was doing, I undid the knot keeping me on Rainbow's back and swam upwards. The two were so focused on not getting brought into the skolopendra's mouth that I was able to slash my way out of the tentacle circle we'd been trapped in.

From the outside looking in, there were far less tentacles, clearly indicating that this skolopendra wanted to eat us. How did the others kill this thing in the books? I asked myself, using the water currents to push me forward as I dragged my knives against the other side of the skolopendra's skin, cutting into the sea salt and slime that had been protecting its ugly underbelly.

Fire, I remembered, ducking as tentacle that tried to wrap itself around my throat. Greek fire.

But we didn't have Greek fire with us, and I'd never been able to summon it before. My emotions had never been strong enough to transform my normal flames into Greek fire. But I knew if I didn't do something soon, we were going to turn into skolopendra-chow.

"Rainbow, dive!" I shouted, my voice getting drowned out by the flurry of bubbles that were being created by flailing tentacles. "As deep as you can, then get out of here!"

 _What about you?_ Rainbow asked. _What will you do?_

 _Don't worry about me,_ I replied, pushing in my knives further, causing for black oil to pour from the wounds. _I can take care of myself. Listen to Tyson's orders._

"Andy, no!" Tyson shouted. "Brother will need your help!"

"He needs yours more! Rainbow, leave, _now!"_

I watched as Rainbow's silver body submerged out of sight before noticing a flurry of bubbles, the same kind that would surround major currents. The skolopendra whirled around, searching for its prey. Its beady eyes focused on me, its tentacles spreading out like thousands of snakes around its body.

"Hey, you overgrown worm!" I shouted, focusing its attention on me. "If you want a snack, you'll have to come and get me!"

I waited until I was about to get snatched up before pushing my hands downward, the water shooting me at breakneck speed towards the surface. I gasped when I felt myself break through the surface, not accustomed to the lack of pressure that came with being in the air.

However, I overshot how much force I needed, sending me flailing in the air. After reminding myself of my crazy plan, I screamed, feeling my entire body catch fire. The fire was red, though, not hot enough yet.

I remembered every awful thing that I'd ever seen or had been done to me in my life, allowing for that repressed rage burn through me. This time when I fell back into the water, the fire surrounding me was lime green and still burning, meaning I'd finally summoned Greek fire for the first time.

I rushed towards the monster's head, lobbing fireballs at its eyes and mouth in an attempt to burn the skolopendra from the inside out. After a few more Greek fire pills made its way down the skolopendra's throat, it seized like someone had grabbed the end of a jump rope and shook it around violently before escaping into the depths below.

When I finally extinguished the flames, I felt immense fatigue set in despite being completely surrounded by salt water. Summoning that Greek fire had taken everything out of me, but I knew today's events were nowhere near over yet.

If Rainbow had listened, he and Tyson should be far away by now, hopefully reaching Polyphemus' Island within the next few hours. As for me, well, I was surrounded by water and shadows, both of which I could travel through.

I chose the former, fading into mist within the ocean, imagining myself back on Rainbow's back. Sure enough, when I opened my eyes, I was seated on Rainbow, who had been making small talk with Tyson in an attempt to distract him.

 _She's a strong demigod, young Cyclops. She will be fine,_ Rainbow reassured him.

"Yup, I am," I said, causing for Rainbow to stop abruptly in his tracks. I slammed into Tyson, who didn't even budge from the impact.

"Andy, the big snake didn't kill you!" Tyson cheered happily, clapping his hand together in enthusiasm. I showed him that I still had all my limbs, which made him even happier. "Rainbow kept us safe. We're almost there."

"That's good. Do we have an ETA?"

"A what?"

 _About an hour, Andy. That's enough time for you to get some rest._

"I don't need to sleep," I protested, tying myself back into the makeshift harness. "I literally only woke up a few hours ago."

"You smell like smoke," Tyson pointed out innocently, gesturing to the scorch marks on my clothes. I guess my clothes weren't fireproof when Greek flames got involved. "And I got rest, too. Finished healing then."

"I'm fine."

 _Young one, I sense a drop in your energy. You did something with the skolopendra that has weakened you. Rest so that you may be at full strength when facing Polyphemus._

"Not all Cyclopes are good like me," Tyson said seriously, sounding more mature than I'd ever heard him before.

 _Please, sleep. I shall wake you when we arrive._

"Please," Tyson pleaded, pulling a puppy dog gaze with his one brown eye.

I sighed, knowing that they were going to insist for the rest of the journey. "Fine," I conceded, resting my head against Tyson's back. He didn't seem to mind; in fact, he smiled. "But I better be woken up if anything goes wrong."

"Don't worry," Tyson said. "Night-night."

I shut my eyes and was instantly pulled into a dream.

I was standing in a cave on some island gods-knows-where, the shouts of a screaming woman filling the air. I ran in further wanting to help before dropping dead in my tracks, my mouth dropping open.

Sprawled out on the floor was a heavily pregnant woman, clutching at her swollen stomach while she screamed. Nine nymphs stood around her, telling her encouraging words and dabbing at her forehead with damp wool cloths. One of the nymphs was holding the woman's hand, and judging from the way she was trying not to scream out, I could tell she regretted that decision.

"Don't just stand there!" the nymph covered in white flowers hissed, snapping her fingers in front of my face to get my attention. "Help the queen!"

"I'm sorry, what?" I asked, slowly beginning to back up as the pregnant woman began screaming again.

"You must be the medic the earth mother summoned. Now do your duty and help Queen Rhea!"

"You have the wrong person."

"Gaea never makes mistakes," the second nymph seethed. "Help the earth mother's daughter."

"Please," the woman, Rhea, whimpered, tightening her grip on the third nymph's hand.

I nodded, not wanting to bring down the wrath of the nymphs or Gaea on me even if this was only a dream. Speaking of which, I had no idea why I was here or how this was relevant to what was going on in the real world, but I sat myself in front of Rhea and helped her deliver her baby.

Now I knew why Will had left the infirmary right after delivering Chuck – labor and delivery was disgusting. There was so much blood, too, and the thing is that's to be expected. At least Rhea knew what to do with her newborn son after I cut the umbilical cord with one of my daggers.

Note to self, sanitize dagger in lava ASAP.

The nymphs started fussing over Rhea's baby, cleaning him up and swaddling him in a sky blue blanket before setting him back on Rhea's chest. I was left to clean up Rhea, which wasn't pretty or sanitary seeing that latex gloves hadn't been invented yet.

Another note to self, sanitize hands in lava, too.

"What will you name him?" the nymph whose hand had been broken by Rhea asked, wincing as she massaged her purple-tinged digits.

"Zeus," Rhea said, her face still beaded with sweat after giving birth. "For he shall shine a light on a bright future."

"A beautiful name," the fourth nymph said.

"We shall keep his safe, my queen," said the fifth.

Then Zeus began to cry, his wails echoing off the walls of the cave. The rest of us winced, but Rhea was the most concerned, her face pale as she tried to calm her son down. I knew that if he kept crying like this, he'd be discovered, forced to share the same fate as his other siblings.

"Mother Gaea," the sixth spoke sweetly, "could you please provide us with something to disguise your grandson's cries?"

From the dirt, three elfish looking men appeared. They all had long red beards that flowed down to their chest and a rat's nest of ginger hair on their heads. They wore leather kilts, like our armor, studded with silver domes along their waists. Their faces were grimy and dirty, their skin covered in an array of crisscrossing scars.

The three of them noticed the crying baby and broke out into a weird dance which I can only explain as a mixture of someone dancing to Rasputin and the funky chicken at the same time. However, while I was staring in confusion at the newcomers, baby Zeus was eating up the show, his cries immediately transforming into gurgling and laughter.

Rhea sighed in relief, smiling as Zeus's chubby little hands grabbed her finger. "Thank you, Mother."

"Who are they?" the seventh nymph asked.

"The Kouretes," I answered, earning myself three yellow smiles in my direction. They were less popular than I'd originally thought.

"Always a pleasure to serve the queen and prince," the middle Kourete said, sounding much more refined than I expected. Seriously, would you expect a giant who just broke it down and squatted so low that everything under his kilt was exposed to speak like they were a civilized member of society?

I saw the remaining two nymphs bring in a magic goat – Amaltheia, if I'm not mistaken – filling a wineskin and bringing it to Rhea to give to Zeus.

The image shifted again, pitting me next to the six original Olympians as they hid behind a stone wall, enemy fire shooting overhead. This time, I was completely invisible to them, much to my relief. I don't think they'd take to learning about another child of Kronos too kindly, especially if this was the first Titan War.

My curiosity getting the better of me, I peeked over the wall, an arrow whizzing right past my head. Standing in the middle of the entire army decked out completely in armor was none other than Kronos. He was standing at his mortal height of about seven-five, his gold eyes glinting cruelly, his lips pulled downward into a fierce scowl. His black hair was trimmed sort, but even from here I could make out his curls.

Did that mean in this timeline I got my hair from Kronos? Gods, I hope not.

He also had a long pointy beard that was a perfect triangle. When I say a perfect triangle, I mean I could go up to his beard with a protractor and be able to solve for every angle without a problem. Needless to say, it was an unnerving look. In his hand, he held his infamous scythe, the mixed blade shining dangerously in the sunlight.

"Surrender, my children!" Kronos shouted from Mount Othrys. "We shall give you a merciful death!"

"Yeah, right," Poseidon snorted, clutching his trident tightly in his hand, the spearheads glowing with energy.

"He'll enjoy torturing us," Hera agreed.

"Especially me," Zeus added.

"Well, aren't you special?" Demeter drawled.

"He has a point," Hades said. "Zeus was the only one of us who evaded getting eaten."

"Don't remind me," Hestia pleaded, shaking with fear. She'd been the firstborn, meaning she spent the most time in Kronos' stomach, which couldn't have been a pleasant memory.

"If we want to defeat Father," Zeus said, "we must use trickery. That's the only way to topple the Crooked One."

Hera had opened her mouth to say something, but before I could hear anything, I felt someone gently shaking my shoulders, telling me to wake up.

I woke up with a start, my hands still trembling from having to help the Queen of the Titans give birth to my half-brother. Which made me wonder, what would Rhea think of me should we ever meet? I knew she was a recluse and in hiding, but if she ever met me, I couldn't help but wonder how that might turn out. Seeing that there was a pretty solid record of immortal stepmoms having a general dislike for their stepchildren, she'd probably hate me on the simple principle that I exist.

"Andy, you okay?" Tyson asked, snapping his fingers in front of my face a couple of times.

"Hmm? Yeah, I'm fine," I said.

"Good, because Rainbow said we're here."

* * *

 **Happy New Year's Eve! I hope you all have an amazing 2019!**


	24. Chapter 24

"Smells like sheep," Tyson said as began walking onto the shore.

Personally, I didn't smell anything, but Cyclopes had as enhanced sense of smell, so I didn't doubt him. That and also I knew that there were flesh eating sheep because of Polyphemus.

I looked around, trying to find where our friends would be. According to the books, when Tyson arrived, Percy was getting pushed to the edge of a cliff by Polyphemus. I glanced upward, catching glimpses of the ugly baby blue tuxedo that the Cyclops had donned to get married to Grover and then to Clarisse.

"Tyson," I whispered, tapping his arm. "Up there."

He frowned, his eye widening when he realized that Percy was in real danger of being eaten by Polyphemus. Tyson then ran over to a pile of rocks and picked up a boulder that was the size of an overinflated basketball, hefting it over his head before shooting it up the hundred-foot precipice.

Moments later I heard a gagging noise and the sound of something large hitting the ground with a large thud. Tyson began charging up the path that connected the beach to the cliffside, completely unharmed by the man-eating sheep.

As for me, I mist-traveled myself up. I didn't smell like a Cyclops, so I would've been attacked by the sheep, unlike Tyson.

Once both Tyson and I had reunited with our friends, we gave them the short story of our journey, both of us omitting the fight with the skolopendra. I knew Percy had been worried enough as it was about whether we made it out alive or not from the explosion; I didn't want to worry him more by telling him we'd been separated at one point.

"Tyson, Andy, thank the gods," Percy said. "Annabeth is hurt!"

"You thank the gods she is hurt?" Tyson asked, puzzled.

"No!" Percy knelt beside Annabeth, his face full of worry. Annabeth had a large gash on her forehead, similar to the one Tyson had sported when I found him sinking below the wreckage. But hers was much deeper, blood staining her hairline. Her skin was pale and clammy.

Percy exchanged a look with Grover, who was no longer wearing a wedding dress. "Tyson, the Fleece. Can you get it for me?"

I walked towards Annabeth and summoned my bag, pulling out my flask of nectar and beginning to dribble it into Annabeth's mouth. It'd help with the pain and speed up her healing, but it wouldn't be enough to heal her ribs.

"Which one?" Tyson asked, looking around at the hundreds of sheep.

"In the tree! The gold one!"

"Oh. Pretty. Yes."

I tore my eyes away from Tyson, risking a few more drops of nectar before capping the flask, not wanting Annabeth to spontaneously combust because of me. I pulled out a gauze pad and pressed it against the gash on Annabeth's head. It was deep enough that I should've given her stitches right then and there, but I knew that the Golden Fleece's power would be strong enough to heal the cut completely.

Percy grunted behind me as he caught the Fleece, which weighed about sixty or seventy pounds. He set the Fleece over Annabeth's chest, his eyes closed and his mouth moving in a silent prayer.

The color returned to Annabeth's face. Her eyelids fluttered open. The gash on her forehead began to close. She saw Grover and said weakly, "You're not…married?"

Grover grinned. "No. My friends talked me out of it."

"Annabeth, just lay still," Percy said, concern flooding his voice. Oh, he was so whipped, and he didn't even know it yet.

"At least let me wrap your chest first," I protested, but the stubborn daughter of Athena sat up anyways. Albeit, she looked much better, her skin shimmering like a bucket of glitter had been dumped over her head.

Meanwhile, Tyson was starting to have trouble with the sheep. "Down!" he told them as they tried to climb him looking for food. A few were sniffing in our direction. "No, sheepies. This way! Come here!"

I pulled out an unopened bag of beef jerky from my bag, earning me a weird look from Clarisse. I tore open the packaging with my teeth before shouting, "Tyson, catch!" throwing the beef jerky at Tyson. "Throw the jerky to the other side of the island, as far away as you can!"

Tyson did just that, pulling out strands of jerky, throwing them back in the direction of Polyphemus's lair, far away from us. The carnivorous sheep took off, trampling over one another as they tried to get some of the jerky.

"We need to move while the sheep are gone," I told the others.

"Do you just casually carry around beef jerky?" Percy asked as I turned my bag back into a charm, no longer needing anything from it.

"Yes. Hey, I learned in college that someone is always hungry, so I started carrying around snacks with me just in case. But now isn't the time." I turned to Annabeth. "Keep the Fleece around you; you're not close to being healed. Can you stand?"

Annabeth tried, but her face instantly turned pale and clammy again. "Oh, definitely can't stand."

Clarisse took a knee and felt her chest, making Annabeth gasp. "Ribs broken," Clarisse said, standing up again. "They're mending, but definitely broken."

"How can you tell?" Percy asked.

"Because I've broken a few, runt! I'll have to carry her."

"Let me," I said, stopping before Clarisse could toss Annabeth over her shoulder like a sack of flour. "We'll need your hands available if Baby Blue comes back."

I got Annabeth onto my back. Although she weighed about seventy pounds heavier because of the Golden Fleece, I didn't think it was all that hard as I began walking down the cliffside, making sure to keep my steps as even as possible to not jostle Annabeth around more than necessary.

When we got to the water's edge, Percy's face took on a look of concentration, which I knew was him trying to get his ship, the _Queen Anne's Revenge,_ to appear. A few minutes later, an old pirate's ship appeared in the water.

"Incoming!" Tyson yelled. He was bounding down to join us, the sheep about fifty yards behind him, bleating as they probably wanted more jerky. Such a shame that I only had that one pack, or else we wouldn't have to worry about these dumb sheep.

"They probably won't follow us into the water," Percy told us. "All we have to do is swim for the ship."

"With Annabeth like this?" Clarisse protested, gesturing to the daughter of Athena, whose body was trembling from shock.

"We can do it," Percy insisted. "Once we get to the ship, we're home free."

We almost made it, too.

We were just wading past the entrance to the ravine when we heard a tremendous roar and saw Polyphemus scraped up and bruised but still very much alive, his baby-blue wedding outfit in tatters, splashing toward us with a boulder in each hand.

"You'd think he'd run out of rocks," Percy muttered.

"Swim for it!" Grover said.

Clarisse, Grover, and I plunged into the surf. The two of them swam ahead while I had to use the water to keep Annabeth and me afloat. Annabeth was trying to help by paddling with one hand, but the wet Fleece was weighing us down even more.

"Annabeth, I won't let you drown," I promised her, making sure the water was helping Clarisse and Grover as well.

While Percy and Tyson fought Polyphemus on land, I made sure we all got onto the _Queen Anne's Revenge._ Once I was on the deck, I set Annabeth down, telling her not to move to give the Fleece a chance to heal her ribs.

"Guys, remember Polyphemus is blind," I said. "He tracks using sound."

"Why does that matter?" Grover asked.

"It means that we need to stay quiet," I explained, keeping my gaze fixated on Clarisse. If we could keep the ship from getting hit by a rock, the better, because Percy and I could will a boat to move much faster than three hippocampi to get us back to the States. "No matter what."

"Why are you looking at me?" Clarisse growled.

"Because you're not exactly the quiet type," Annabeth added quickly.

"Why you-"

"Both of you, cut it out," I snapped. "No one speaks until Percy and Tyson are on board and we are far away from this blasted island."

After a few tense minutes of silence, Percy and Tyson climbed aboard while Polyphemus was cheering, "Yes, I've defeated Nobody!" I don't know what the two had done to convince him of that, but they were safe, and that's all the mattered.

Percy flicked his wrist, and the _Queen Anne's Revenge_ took off, wind filling our sails instantaneously. Once the island was nothing more than a black spot in the distance, we all sighed in relief, never wanting to encounter Polyphemus again.

I then took survey of everyone on deck, frowning at what I saw. Percy was swaying on his feet from exhaustion, but he was leaning against the mast, staring out at the horizon. Clarisse had sustained some cuts and bruises all over her arms and legs, but other than also looking exhausted, she was fine. Tyson's skin was full of splinters and sand, but he didn't seem to mind, tinkering away at something he'd salvaged from the wreck when we found pieces of it floating around the sea.

Grover was chewing on a piece of aluminum, though I had no idea where he'd gotten it from. He had dark circles under his eyes, and his curly hair was a mess, but all in all, he appeared to be overjoyed about escaping Polyphemus. Annabeth had fallen asleep on the deck, her skin continuing to shimmer while the Fleece worked its magic.

"All of you, get some sleep," I ordered in a very motherly voice. I mean, I was the oldest here, so now that the most dangerous part was over, the least I could do was make sure they took care of themselves.

"I'm not tired," Clarisse argued.

"How long were you on that raft by yourself?"

"Two days."

"Did you have anything to drink or eat?"

Clarisse's ears turned pink. "No."

"Did you sleep?"

"…No."

"That's what I thought." I summoned my bag and handed everyone an apple. As for drinking water, I grabbed a large pot from the galley, filled it with sea water, boiled it, removed the salt, and condensed the steam so we had clean, drinkable water.

Once everyone, including Annabeth, had gotten something in their stomach and drank water, I sent them off to sleep in the hammocks below. The only one I held behind was Tyson, telling him he would go to bed after I removed all the splinters from his skin. Percy had been concerned about our trajectory, but I brushed off his concern, assuring him that I'd be able to get us out of the Sea of Monsters safely.

In total, it took approximately five hours for us to arrive back to the U.S., washing up near Miami Beach. One of the girls back home, Rosalinda, had lived in Florida most of her life, and she liked to tell stories about how beautiful Miami Beach was.

Was being the key word in that sentence, because even from out here, I could see how polluted the water was. Maybe on a good day the water would be clear, but seeing the amount of people in the water and on the shore, I knew today wouldn't be a good day.

I got us to the edge of the wake zone, making sure to cloak the ship with lots and lots of Mist. As far as I could see, there was nowhere to moor the boat, so it looked like we were going to have to swim the rest of the way.

None of us were particularly thrilled about that, but we jumped overboard anyways and swam to the shore. By the side of the road, taxi cab drivers yelled at each other in Spanish while they tried to steal each other's customers. Porters from the nearby hotels trailed behind fancy looking people, carrying their beach equipment. Both tourists and residents bristled by, going to and coming from the beach.

No one paid us any attention, which I thought was a good thing. Seeing that we were back in the mortal world, the Mist began taking effect again, blurring Tyson's eye into two and turning the Golden Fleece from a sheepskin to a red-and-gold high school letter jacket with a large glittery Omega on the pocket. Grover had put his cap and sneakers back on, blending in with everyone else.

Annabeth ran to the nearest newspaper box and checked the date on the _Miami Herald._ She cursed. "June eighteenth! We've been away from camp ten days!"

"That's impossible!" Clarisse said.

"Not necessarily. Time works differently in monstrous places," I reminded them.

"Thalia and Luke's tree must be almost dead," Grover wailed. "We have to get the Fleece back _tonight."_

Clarisse slumped down on the pavement, her confidence having drained out of her body. "How are we supposed to do that?" Her voice trembled. "We're hundreds of miles away. No money. No ride. This is just like the Oracle said. It's _your_ fault, Jackson! If you hadn't interfered-"

"Percy's fault?!" Annabeth exploded. "Clarisse, how can you say that? You are the biggest-"

"Stop it!" Percy said.

Clarisse put her head in her hands. Annabeth stomped her foot in frustration.

I was about to offer to take us all back to camp when I heard the Fates say, _You must not interfere anymore on this quest. Everything else this summer must take place as it was written. Remove yourself from the equation._

 _How?_ I asked. _It's only a matter of time before they remember me._

 _Tell them you are under our direct orders. The moment the daughter of Ares gets in the taxi, get out of there._

But the conversation had taken too long, because the next thing I knew, Kyle was pointing a blade at Percy's throat and one of the two bear twins, Oreius, was holding Annabeth and Grover by their t-shirt collars. Tyson growled, but Kyle said, "Percy, tell your giant to back down or I'll have Oreius bash your friends' heads together."

 _Am I supposed to just sit back and watch this happen?_ I asked the Fates angrily. _I can get us to safety right now._

 _You shall do no such thing! We'll allow you to remain with the heroes until the Party Ponies arrive, but you cannot interfere with the upcoming duel between Perseus and Kyle._

 _Can I step in if it gets too close for comfort?_

 _No!_

 _Fine, geez. You know, this is why people don't like you._

 _We're aware of that. Goodbye for now, Andromeda._

 _Andy._ I sighed.

"Oh, does the little witch feel left out?" Kyle sneered, training his sword onto me now.

"You don't scare me, Kyle," I said calmly. "So, you have our friends in your grasp, great. What do you want from us?"

"Why, to extend my hospitality, of course."

The bear twins led us onto the _Princess Andromeda,_ which Kyle wouldn't stop poking fun about, enjoying the disgusted look on my face as he raved on and on about his base of operations shared my name, "Olympus' favorite demigod," he'd spat, glaring at me like he wanted nothing more than to run me through.

They threw us down on the aft deck in front of a swimming pool with sparkling fountains that sprayed into the air. A dozen of Kyle's assorted goons – snake people, Laistrygonians, demigods in battle armor – had gathered to watch us get some "hospitality."

"And so, the Fleece," Kyle mused. "Where is it?"

The Fates' command was the only thing preventing me from decking Kyle in the face right then and there. I wanted to badly to rip Backbiter out of his hands and shadow-travel us back to camp, where we would be safe, but sadly, I couldn't do that. Damn Fates.

Kyle looked us over, prodding Percy's shirt with the top of his sword, poking Grover's jeans.

"Hey!" Grover yelled. "That's real goat fur under there!"

"Sorry, satyr," Kyle sneered. "Just give me the Fleece and I'll let you return to your pathetic little search."

Grover said some unflattering things in Ancient Greek, enough to cause Tyson to blush and clamp his hands over his ears.

"Maybe you didn't hear me." Kyle's voice was dangerously calm. "Where-is-the-Fleece?"

"Not here," Percy said, a smug smile tugging at his lips. I was smiling as well, enjoying the look of confusion on Kyle's face. "We sent it ahead of us. You messed up."

Kyle's eyes narrowed. "You're lying. You couldn't have…" His face reddened, like he'd come up with a doomsday scenario in his head. "Clarisse?"

Percy nodded.

"You trusted…you gave…"

"Yeah."

"Agrius!"

The bear giant flinched. "Y-yes?"

"Get below and prepare my steed. Bring it to the deck. I need to fly to the Miami Airport, fast!"

I frowned at the mention of Kyle's steed. In the books, that steed turned out to be Blackjack. I swear, if they hurt my pegasus…

 _Blackjack?_ I asked as an experiment.

 _Boss, help! I'm stuck on some boat, and some bear guy is trying to take me somewhere!_

 _Calm down, I'm on the deck you're being led to. I'll get you out of here, Blackjack._

 _That'd be nice, boss! I don't want a bear to ride me!_

I watched as Agrius finally brought Blackjack up to the aft deck. Blackjack was swearing with such ferocity that Chiron would've washed his mouth out with saddle soap, but under these circumstances, I wasn't going to snitch. He kept trying to hit the bear twin with a hoof, but Agrius managed to duck every time, which only made Blackjack angrier.

"I told you Percy," Kyle said, snapping me out of my thoughts. "You can't bait me into a fight."

"And you keep avoiding one," Percy noted. "Scared your warriors will see you get whipped?"

Kyle glanced at his men, and he'd saw that Percy had trapped him. If he back down now, he'd look weak. If he fought Percy, he'd lose valuable time chasing after Clarisse. While Percy distracted Kyle, Annabeth could think of a plan to get everyone else out of there.

"I'll kill you quickly," Kyle decided. He drew Backbiter, the blade glinting with an evil gray-and-gold light where the human steel was melded to the Celestial bronze. I knew the story of Kronos' scythe well – someone had to die whilst the blade was forged in order for the metals to be bound together. Kyle then whistled to one of his men, who threw him a round leather-and-bronze shield.

He gave Percy a wicked grin, truly matching up with the antagonist archetype I'd been forced to learn about in school.

"Kyle," Annabeth said, "at least give him a shield."

"Sorry, Annabeth," he said. "You bring your own equipment to this party."

I held my breath when I saw Kyle lunge forward, managing to graze Percy's ribs on the first try. I knew Percy had been out of practice, but I didn't think it had been this bad when I read it in the books. Then again, I didn't learn swordsmanship until after reading the books, so who was I to have known what being out of practice looked like?

The two of them fought viciously, but Kyle eventually dragged his cursed blade against Percy's thigh. Percy collapsed onto his knees, barely rolling away from a downward slash that would've chopped his leg clean off. Percy tried to stand again, but his injury was too severe, his leg unable to take the weight.

"Perrrrrrcy!" Grover bleated.

 _Please?_ I asked the Fates again.

 _You're such a child, you know that? Take care of the bear twins, but leave Percy and Kyle to their own devices._

 _Thank you!_

By some mistake, Kyle hadn't put anyone on my guard detail, so when I whipped out a dagger and threw it directly at Oreius's head, the hilt sticking out of his forehead like a unicorn horn before he disintegrated, no one had been expecting my attack.

That's when all Hades broke loose.

The Laistrygonian that rushed forward to take the bear twin's spot earned a red-feathered arrow to the mouth. With a surprised look on his face, the Laistrygonian crumpled to the deck.

"Brother!" Agrius wailed, finally noticing that his brother had been killed by yours truly. He let go of Blackjack's reins, and I shouted at Blackjack to get away, something he didn't need to be told twice. Before he left, however, he stomped on Agrius' head, causing for the second bear twin to crumple to the deck.

I ran over to the fallen Laistrygonian, which was now a pile of gold dust, and scooped up my dagger while Annabeth and Grover rubbed their necks. I corralled Tyson into the mix, keeping the three of them close together while I went to get Percy.

But before I could get anywhere, there was a wild chorus of war cries and hooves thundering against metal. A dozen centaurs charged out of the main stairwell.

"Ponies!" Tyson cried with delight.

Although I had encountered the Party Ponies before, my mind was unable to process everything that was going on in front of me. Chiron was amongst the crowd, but his relatives were almost nothing like him. There were centaurs with black Arabian stallion bodies, others with gold palomino coats, others with orange-and-white spots like paint horses. Some wore brightly colored t-shirts with Day-Glo letters that said Party Ponies: South Florida Chapter.

Some were armed with bows, some with baseball bats, some with paintball guns. One had his face painted like a Comanche warrior and was waving a large orange Styrofoam hand making a big Number 1. Another was bare-chested and painted entirely green. A third had googly-eye glasses with the eyeballs bouncing around on Slinky coils and one of those baseball caps with soda-can-and-straw attachments on either side.

They exploded onto the deck with such ferocity and color that for a moment even Kyle was stunned. I knew that this was Chiron's doing, so they must've been here to help, but even I was unsure of whether they had come to celebrate or attack.

It had been both. As Kyle lifted his sword to rally his troops, one of the centaurs shot a custom-made arrow with a leather boxing glove on the end. It smacked Kyle in the face and sent him crashing into the swimming pool.

I was acutely aware of the alarm blaring, knowing that we'd soon be overrun by Kyle's army if we didn't leave soon. I turned around, cutting down a snake woman, who had tried to take a bite out of Grover. Tyson pushed a handful of soldiers over the guardrails, sending them into the ocean below.

"Withdraw, brethren!" Chiron said at last.

I had to help Annabeth, whose ribs were still sore, onto one of the centaur's backs, while Grover hopped on by himself. I looked to my right, where a palomino centaur scooped Percy onto his back. Then Tyson hopped on, and the centaur groaned, muttering something under his breath.

"Get on!" Chiron told me, gesturing to himself. I jumped on, and Chiron jumped over the side of the deck, joining the rest of the centaurs as we landed on the pavement and dashed off gods-knows-where.

The city of Miami became a blur until Chiron and the other Party Ponies stopped somewhere that could've been the Everglades for all I knew. It was a trailer park in the middle of the forest, a lake right behind the centaur-approved trailers.

I hopped off of Chiron when we arrived at the centaur camp, knowing that he had things he needed to discuss with Percy, Annabeth, and Grover. I watched as two of the centaurs head slammed into each other, staggering off in different directions afterwards, crazy grins on their faces.

Would it be rude of me to ask Chiron if CTE existed in centaurs? Because at the rate they did this, it was a miracle that their brains were still fully functional, if you define that as being capable of making decisions and having all bodily systems in order.

To my left, three centaurs were trying to teach Tyson how to shoot a paintball gun. I rolled my eyes at their childish influence, but I guess centaurs just wanna have fun. I took a seat at the edge of the centaur camp, pulling out my journal and writing some notes down.

I heard the shot of a paintball gun and looked up, only to find a centaur sporting purple on his face holding two thumbs up in Tyson's direction. Annabeth and Grover quickly pulled Tyson away from the centaurs, the three of them talking amongst each other while Chiron and Percy spoke in hushed tones.

I kept my head down, listening to Percy and Chiron's conversation while continuing to work. When Chiron told Percy the truth about his father, I grit my teeth, setting my pen down in anger. I was annoyed that the gods had forbidden me from telling the truth about my father, thus preventing me from using my chronokinesis unless it was a hopeless situation.

I mean, I didn't like that Kronos was my father as much as any one of his children, but at least when someone asked them, they could give them an answer. How much longer could I call myself unclaimed when I had powers of the eldest gods and then some? How long until someone figured out my worst secret?

At least if I told them, they'd still trust me. If I kept this hidden any longer, something may slip at the wrong time, and I may be viewed as a traitor. For all I know, I could get kicked out of camp because of paranoia.

No, I had to tell my friends the truth, consequences be damned. I'll face whatever the Olympians give me, but I can't keep my relationship to Kronos hidden any longer.

Percy took a seat next to the others by the campfire, and I sighed, steeling myself for what I was about to do. I put away my bag and sat by the others.

"Guys," I said, interrupting their conversation about which Party Pony had the coolest weapon. "I'm about to tell you something about me that only the Olympians, Chiron, and Cleo know about. I need you to promise me that you won't tell anyone about this, not unless your life is in danger."

"What did you do?" Annabeth asked.

"Did you kill someone?" Grover added.

"Wait, what? _That's_ what you got from her?" Percy asked, confused. "It's about her, not someone else."

"Oh, right." Annabeth and Grover blushed.

"This is about my father," I said, catching all of their attention. I'd known the three of them for six years now, and in that time, they all thought I was unclaimed. "Now, swear that you won't divulge this information."

"We swear," the three of them said in unison.

I sighed, messing with the hem of my shirt. "There's no easy way to say this, but my father is Kronos, Titan of Time."


	25. Chapter 25

I was silent the whole ride back to camp even though I was sitting with Percy on Chiron's back. It was a weird feeling knowing that you were sitting on the back of your centaur half-brother, but thankfully Percy didn't ask anything else about us being children of Kronos.

But he did say, "Huh, siblings," more to himself than to us, like that had just now dawned on him. Honestly, while Chiron may have been my brother, I viewed him more as a mentor than a sibling. Something about the three thousand some age gap made it very hard to view each other as siblings.

When we finally got back to camp, we got to witness the magic of the Golden Fleece. Clarisse had arrived five minutes before we did because of the centaurs' magic travel powers, meaning we'd get to see the Fleece in action.

Apparently it had been a rough two weeks here with the more frequent monster attacks. For example, we were now in need of a new arts and crafts cabin after having burnt down because of a Draco Aionius. There were so many injured that there wasn't enough space in the Apollo cabin's infirmary, forcing kids transform rooms in the Big House into makeshift infirmary rooms.

Simply put, the fifty some demigods that had been here the past two weeks were just as battered and exhausted as we were. The second Clarisse draped the Golden Fleece on the lowest bough of the pine tree, the moonlight seemed to brighten, turning from gray to liquid silver. A cool breeze rustled in the branches and rippled through the grass, all the way into the valley. Everything came into sharper focus – the glow of fireflies down in the woods, the smell of the strawberry fields, the sound of the waves on the beach.

We all began cheering as the pine needles slowly changed from brown to green, the Fleece working its magic and ridding the tree of the elder python venom. Chiron ordered a twenty-four/seven guard for the tree until he could find an appropriate monster to protect the Fleece.

I volunteered to take the first shift, placing a hand against the bark of the pine tree. This time when I touched the tree, I felt absolutely no pain, something that filled me with relief. I had no idea how Luke and Thalia were holding up inside their temporary home as the poison spread, so the fact that they were getting healed now made me very happy.

I skipped Clarisse receiving her laurels and the campfire that night, perfectly content to guard my friends' tree. I was so overprotective of them that Chiron had to force Annabeth to take the nightshift after he'd found out I hadn't left my post in three days.

"You wake me the moment something happens," I told Grover, who had tagged along with Annabeth to make sure I would get some sleep.

During the three days I'd been on guard duty, I missed the chariot race rematches and Tyson leaving to work in Poseidon's forges. I knew I'd also missed Hermes' second visit to Percy, the one that ended in him giving Percy an envelope from Poseidon.

When I walked into cabin three, I found Percy tossing and turning in his bunk, muttering under his breath while his face was pale. I'd gently rested my hand against his forehead, checking for a fever, before finally deciding that he was merely dreaming of my father. I would've waken him up, but Percy's dreams were essential to him and to the camp, so I let him sleep fitfully.

I crawled into my own bunk, my eyes closing for what felt like a few seconds before I heard Grover burst into the cabin, his pupils slit like a goat's in fear. Thunder rolled overhead, and lightning created false daylight across the camp.

Percy sat up in his bed, too, swearing when his forehead slammed into the upper part of his bunk. I scrambled out of bed, throwing on my raincoat while asking Grover what the heck was going on.

"Annabeth…on the hill…she…" Grover stammered.

Percy and I ran out of the cabin, seeing as others throughout camp made their way to the pine tree. Chiron caught up to us and hoisted us onto his back, galloping towards the borders. A small crowd had started to gather around the tree, satyrs and nymphs and heroes in an assortment of pajamas and armor.

I hopped off Chiron's back and crouched down to the base of the tree, my hands shaking as I began brushing off gnarled roots and dirt off two imprints in the bark. Annabeth, who was next to me, was crying, kneeling over our friends' bodies. I finally finished getting them out of the tree, setting them in the damp grass.

"Curse the Titan lord," Chiron said from behind me. "He's tricked us again, given himself another chance to control the prophecy."

"What do you mean?" Percy asked.

"The Fleece…the Fleece did its work too well."

All around us, people gasped at the sight of the two famed demigods laying unconscious on the ground. On first sight, Thalia seemed the more stable of the two, so I moved Luke a little farther away from the daughter of Zeus, giving me a chance to fully examine him.

No one approached the unconscious demigods, except for Percy. He knelt down next to Thalia, placing a gentle hand onto her forehead. "She needs nectar and ambrosia," he said, but no one made any move to help her. Percy looked around in confusion, unaware of why people were so frightened of Thalia.

Percy then propped Thalia up against her own tree, yelling at the others to help him get her to the infirmary, while I took Luke's pulse, frowning at how sluggish it was. I needed to do a full workup on the son of Hermes, but right now, everyone was too focused on Thalia to help me with Luke.

Then I heard Thalia take a shaky breath and cough. I turned around just in time to see her open her eyes, her startlingly electric blue eyes frantically looking around, trying to understand what was happening.

"Who-"

"I'm Percy," he said softly, trying to calm Thalia down. "You're safe."

"Strangest dream…"

"It's okay."

"Dying."

"No," he assured her. "You're okay. What's your name?"

"I am Thalia," she said softly. "Daughter of Zeus."

Annabeth began crying even harder before flinging herself at the resurrected demigod, clutching on so tightly I thought she was going to suffocate Thalia. That managed to break people out of their stupor, as some of the Apollo children checked their pockets for the godly food. Cleo finally came forward, handing a crushed up square of ambrosia to Thalia.

"Oh, gods," Grover said, his face ashen. "Another chance to control the prophecy."

"Where's Luke?" Thalia asked, nibbling at the ambrosia. "He was right there…"

"He's over here," I told her, checking his pulse one more time. It had slowed another five beats since the last time I checked, which had been two minutes ago. Now, I knew that people's average bpm could lower depending how fit they were, but Luke had been a tree for six years now, and even if his body inside the tree had kept training, I doubted his actual body reaped those benefits.

I scooped Luke into my arms and stood up, telling Thalia to follow me to the infirmary for a checkup. Cleo and Will tagged along as they were in charge of the infirmary that night, plus, we were all dying of curiosity. Nobody had expected for Luke and Thalia to come back (other than me), so they must've been curious to find out how they had fared after being trapped inside a pine tree for six years.

Cleo and Will worked on Thalia while I ran every test that I could on Luke. Thalia was deemed as being in perfect condition other than a little vertigo, allowing her to leave the infirmary if she so wished. However, she refused to leave Luke's side.

When I got Luke's blood test results back, I reread the numbers three times, in disbelief of what I was seeing. His white blood cell count was 33,000, three times the normal amount of any person, mortal or demigod; his blood sugar was forty, well below the low end of the scale of what was considered normal. He was also running a 105 fever, his forehead beaded with sweat and his skin flushed.

As for his bradycardia, he was averaging a sluggish twenty-seven bpm, which not even the most athletic person in the world could achieve. With a heartbeat this slow, it was only a matter of time until he began suffering permanent brain damage from hypoxia.

What the heck had happened in that tree? Thalia was perfectly fine, so why was Luke in this catatonic state?

"What do you need me to do?" Cleo asked, wearing her doctor's coat and a fresh pair of bright blue latex gloves on her hands.

"Start him on an IV drip of glucose and antibiotics – it'll help raise his blood sugar and hopefully kill the infection. And give him two milligrams of epinephrine IV push," I instructed, flipping through Luke's chart again.

"What about me?" Will asked.

"Get Luke on some oxygen, and hook him up to a monitor and an EKG. Prep an AED and crash cart, just in case."

Thalia's eyes widened, taking one of Luke's hands into her own, while Cleo stuck the IV in his other arm. After he was hooked up to the handful of medications I'd just prescribed, Will returned with a bunch of electrodes, a monitor, and an EKG, dutifully attaching all the equipment onto Luke.

"Will he make it?" Thalia asked, her voice wavering as Will placed a pulse oximeter onto Luke's index finger before starting him on oxygen from a cannula.

"I'll be blunt, Thalia, I don't know," I said, checking the time on the analog clock on the infirmary's check-in desk. I'd rerun blood tests in an hour to see if the medication was doing anything. If not, I was going to have to add some nectar into the mix, maybe even use my own method of healing.

"I need you to tell me anything you remember or any guesses you may have that led Luke to be like this," I told Thalia, resting a hand on her shoulder in what I hoped she'd interpret as a comforting gesture.

"The last couple days, we were in a lot of pain," Thalia said, her eyes squeezed shut while she held onto Luke's hand like a lifeline. "I thought the two of us were going to die for real. But then Luke took my hand, and my pain would fade away while his grew stronger. I told him to stop, that he had no reason to do that for me, but he wouldn't listen. He took away my own suffering by doubling his."

I nodded silently, unsure of what I was supposed to say. Luke had been willing to take the brunt of the elder python venom to abate Thalia's pain, even if it meant placing him in this fragile state he was stuck in.

"Will, add in a nectar drip as well," I ordered, frowning as Luke shivered violently in his bed.

Thalia pulled the thin infirmary-issued blanket up to Luke's neck before deciding to lay down next to him, probably thinking that her body heat would be the next best thing to keep him warm. In any case, I gave her a thicker blanket in case she got cold, but as I expected, Thalia draped it on top of Luke.

Cleo, who had left on a bathroom run, returned to the infirmary with four Styrofoam cups, the steam curling off the top of the liquid. "Hot chocolate for us," she said, giving a cup to Will and Thalia while keeping one for herself, "and coffee for you. Yes, I added cream and sugar."

"You're the best." I smiled and took a sip of the scalding liquid, having a feeling that I was going to need to stay awake tonight.

Since Luke was in a pretty stable condition, Cleo, Will, and I sat on the floor and played various different card games. We'd offered Thalia a spot, but she shook her head no, refusing to leave Luke's side.

We were in the middle of a game of BS when an alarm started to sound on Luke's monitor. In a flash, the three of us were on our feet, understanding what had happened without even glancing at the monitor.

"Thalia, I need you to move aside," I told her urgently, watching as she threw off the blanket and scrambled out of the bed.

Cleo hit the button on Luke's bed that made the back collapse downwards, creating a perfectly flat surface. "Starting compressions," she said, entwining her hands as she began pushing hard and fast down on Luke's chest. "One, two, three…" she counted aloud.

"Will, you're on ambu duty. I'll take care of the medications." I then swore under my breath. We didn't have anyone to man the AED. I turned to Thalia, whose eyes were wide with fear. "Thalia, I know you're afraid, but I need you to manage the AED. It speaks, so listen to what it tells you to do, and we'll be here, too."

"Thirty!" Cleo shouted, as Will delivered two breaths via the ambu bag.

"Pushing one milligram of epi," I said, pushing the plunger down on the syringe as the clear liquid flowed into Luke's IV. Cleo returned to her compressions, while I quickly helped Thalia place the pads on Luke's chest.

"Hold compressions," I ordered when the AED said it was scanning for a rhythm.

"V-fib," the robotic voice told us, and I swore under my breath. "Charging to 200 joules. Stand clear. Press the green button."

Thalia pushed the green button in the AED's case, causing for Luke's body to arch upwards a second later. She flinched at the sight of her friend like that, but when the machine said, "Charge delivered," we all went back to CPR.

We finally got Luke back at minute eighteen. After our first two rounds of CPR, Cleo and Will had to change positions from how tired Cleo's arms had gotten from chest compressions. Thalia had put on a brave face through it all, following my orders as well as the AED's, which I knew played an essential role in bringing Luke back.

"I want another round of bloodwork, but add every single test we have on this one."

"Including our own ones?" Will asked, referring to scanning for traces of godly or monstrous materials, like poison, for example.

"Yes, and have them rushed, if possible."

I tucked a stray strand of hair behind my ear, sighing as I took off my gloves and disposed of them. Thalia was standing next to Luke again, whispering that he better not scare us like that again, or she'd kill him herself.

I took a swig from my now cold coffee, needing some caffeine to calm my nerves after just reviving one of my friends. Cleo was rubbing her arms and doing arm circles to get rid of the knots that had formed while she'd done chest compressions. Speaking of which, I needed to check Luke's ribs now. Will and Cleo had probably cracked them during CPR, which was perfectly normal but highly detrimental to someone in this state.

Sure enough, when I felt Luke's ribs, I felt them shift under my touch. I got an x-ray to confirm, revealing eleven different hairline fractures on the six ribs closest to the middle of the sternum. I turned on the sink and brought the water to encase Luke's chest, imbuing it with my own powers to heal Luke's fractures.

"Why didn't you just do that in the first place?" Thalia asked, sliding back under the covers with Luke.

"My healing doesn't extend to changing a person's vitals," I explained. "I can only heal injuries, not sickness."

"Results are back," Will said, handing me the new papers.

"Oh, thank the gods," I sighed as I started reading the new numbers.

They were much better, approaching back to their normal ranges, though Luke's white blood cell count was still high, around 18,000. I'd also found the culprit for sudden cardiac arrest: residual elder python venom in his heart tissue. However, if I upped the nectar drip, it should help fight off the remaining residue. Worst case scenario, I'd have to perform open-heart surgery, cut out the infected tissue, and then heal his heart. Best case scenario, the nectar worked.

"Good news, I hope," Thalia said.

"Very," I replied, setting Luke's chart on the desk at the foot of his bed. "Luke's responding well to the treatment, but I still want to monitor him a few days after he wakes up."

"When do you think that'll be?"

"I can't give you a definite answer, but hopefully within the next few days."

"That's great news!" Cleo exclaimed.

"Remarkable," Will agreed, smiling at Luke's prognosis.

The sound of the conch shell blowing across the valley made me realize that it was breakfast time. I'd been awake since the crack of dawn, treating Luke from the moment he was purged from his tree.

"You guys go to breakfast," I told Cleo and Will, whose stomachs had growled so loudly, the both of them blushed. "Bring me back a plate, yeah?"

"You've got it, boss!" Cleo said happily, mock saluting simply to annoy me before jogging off. I rolled my eyes at her, but she had already left.

"Do you want to come?" Will asked Thalia, who shook her head no.

"I don't want to leave Luke."

Will shrugged. "Then I'll bring you back a plate, too."

"Please bring Annabeth, Grover, Percy, and Chiron here after breakfast as well. I'm sure they're wondering how our friends must be doing."

"Sure thing, Andy." Will waved goodbye before running out of the infirmary to catch up to the rest of his siblings.

I sighed and took a seat next to Luke's bedside, pulling out one of my books and reading to the sound of Luke's heart monitor.

* * *

The rest of the summer session was pretty peaceful after the Golden Fleece rebuilt the magical borders around Camp Half-Blood, preventing mortals and monsters alike from finding the safe haven for demigods.

Luke, who had woken up after being in a coma for two weeks, recovered remarkably well for someone who had almost died a couple of times during surgery. Yes, the worst case scenario came to pass, and I had to operate on my friend's heart. He was in perfect condition now, the only reminder of his near-death experiences a scar that ran the length of his sternum.

Thalia had refused to leave the son of Hermes, but I had to keep her out of the infirmary when I operated, not wanting to make a careless mistake because I was afraid of her watching me. That meant that it wasn't until Luke woke up from his coma did the two finally reintegrate back into camp, picking up their schedules again like they hadn't been gone the last six years.

When it was finally the night of the bead ceremony, we all gathered around the campfire as the nymphs passed out that year's bead. The background was completely white while a golden ram was delicately painted in the middle, a symbol of the Golden Fleece.

I added my seventh bead to my leather cord, feeling like a real old timer compared to some of the other campers. Heck, Annabeth and I were the only ones who had seven beads on our necklaces, because a lot of the older kids tended to leave camp after turning eighteen and never came back, whether that be because of monster attacks or trying to establish a life in the mortal world.

That next day, Percy and Annabeth left camp to return to their parents, who I'm sure were worried sick of their children's sudden disappearance. If I was right, Sally was going to hug the life out of Percy and then spoil him rotten with blue chocolate chip cookies, thanking the gods that he was still alive. As for Annabeth, I knew her father would be happy to see her, but I wasn't sure about her stepmother or stepbrothers.

Luke and Thalia were going to remain as year-rounders, the both of them deciding that they had nothing in the mortal world to convince them to leave. I knew they'd be in Chiron's capable hands for the rest of the year.

Grover had also left as well, returning back into the wild to continue his search for the Lord of the Wild, Pan. I gave him a tip to head west, to which he responded by nodding and then walking into a tree.

I'd packed up my stuff, too, prepared to return for my second year of college at Columbia with my mortal friends, who'd kept me updated about their summers through the mail. I had a P.O. box near camp, so that's where I'd pick up my mail and send letters back to my friends as well. Hey, keeping up appearances was a part of my job.

My fall semester wouldn't begin for another three weeks, but the dean of students had told me that I was allowed to move back into my dorm room, so that's what I did. I shadow-traveled back to my dorm room and began unpacking, redoing the sheets on my bed and brushing off the dust from my textbooks, which I had left sitting on the small desk on my side of the room.

My roommate, whose name coincidentally happened to be Leah, was still in Florida as far as I knew, spending the rest of her summer back home with her family and friends. That meant I had our broom closet of room to myself, meaning I wasn't confined to my half of the room.

I began setting up shop again, taking out my Rick Riordan books and laying them out in front of me in chronological order. I took out a new notebook, scribbled the date on the front page, and began writing as I flipped through the pages, watching the words shimmer, fade, and replace themselves.

I'd gotten as far as our first chariot races this year when I felt the shadows around me begin to grow restless. I sighed and packed my stuff away, knowing who was about to summon me. Once all my stuff was hidden, I started lacing up my sneakers, ignoring the skeleton that had just walked into my dorm room via the bathroom door's shadow.

"Give me a minute," I told the skeleton, finishing up my other shoe before standing up straight. "Lead the way."

The two of us walked into the shadow, landing right in the middle of Hades' throne room. Gods, I hoped he wasn't upset about Thalia being alive again, because no way was I going to sic a bunch of monsters on her again. I'd had nightmares for months on end after the first time. No way was I going to subject my mental health to that torture again, especially when I was about to start up school again.

"You're dismissed," Hades told the skeleton with a wave of his hand, the bones collapsing into a heap next to me. "Welcome back, Andy. I see that a certain niece of mine is walking the earth again, something I thought you took care of."

"I did," I reminded him. "I blew that whistle and summoned those monsters as you asked me to. But it was imperative that we healed her tree to save demigods from being hunted to extinction."

"You make a fair point, and for that reason, I shall not kill the girl."

I breathed a sigh of relief internally, not wanting Hades to change his mind if he found out that we were friends.

After the serious introduction, Hades and I reverted back to our more relaxed ways, filling each other in with what had happened over the past year. The gods had behaved themselves, staying out of my life for the past year, until now. And I really didn't mind, because it wasn't like Hades was sending me out to kill someone at the moment. We were just talking.

I told him about how school was going and about the quest for the Golden Fleece. However, I had to bring myself to ask one thing. "Why Tantalus?" I asked him. "Of all the souls you have in your possession, why did the gods hire a cannibal king to be our activities director?"

Hades held up his hands in surrender. "I had no say in the matter, but even I wouldn't have sent Tantalus, not when I have heroes like Perseus, Theseus, Hector, and Achilles here, all of whom would've been fine choices."

"Would you have let them return to camp if the other gods asked you?"

"Of course. While I may not like demigods, I know that they're essential to our survival. I'd rather have a hero train you all rather than some damned soul."

I cracked a smile at that. See, Hades wasn't all doom and gloom if you gave him the time of day and treated him like anyone else. I wished that everyone would see the Lord of the Underworld like I did, but unfortunately that wasn't possible.

"So," I drawled out. "What's the real reason you summoned me? I doubt it was really about the daughter of Zeus."

Hades gave me a lopsided grin, bearing a scary resemblance to Percy's, though it's possible. They're uncle and nephew, after all. "Astute as ever," he commented, absentmindedly drumming his fingers against his armrests.

"Let me guess, this has something to do with Nico and Bianca."

Hades' smile widened. "It is time for my children to rejoin the rest of the world."


	26. Chapter 26

I was currently riding shotgun in Alecto's bright red Mustang, some obscure Greek music blasting from the radio. I didn't even know we had Greek radio stations in the U.S., but Alecto proved me wrong.

The Fury was currently disguised as a businessman, her leathery face and talons taking the form of a clean-shaven man with normal limbs. She was wearing a gray pin-striped business suit, her gray hair having completely receded, leaving the man she was impersonating to be bald.

In the back seat were the two children of Hades, staring at Alecto for her taste in music. I didn't dare change the dial, not after learning about what Alecto had done to Tisiphone when she tried to turn off the voice wailing about pain and suffering and death. I enjoy having my hands attached to my body, thank you very much.

We'd only been in the car for a few hours when Nico started complaining that he needed to use the bathroom. Alecto pulled onto the side of the road and told him to go into a bush, but after earning a glare from me and a scared look from the di Angelos, she took us to an actual rest stop.

While Bianca took Nico inside to use the bathroom, I stayed with Alecto as she started to refuel the car. I shucked off my jacket and threw it back into my seat, the heat outside insufferable even though the sun was setting.

"You know, if you're trying to scare the kids, you're doing a great job," I said, placing a hand on my hip.

"My orders were to bring the children to their school," Alecto said, her lip curled into a nasty sneer that would've sent any person running. Fortunately for me, I'd hung out with the Fury enough times to be immune to most of her threats and attitude. "If they're uncomfortable, too bad."

"Take it easy on them. I mean, we did just tell them their father died."

"A necessary lie."

"Yes, but one that has devastated them. Try to be nice?"

"No."

I sighed as Alecto returned the gas pump to its station, swiping a pure black card through the card reader. Technically, she didn't need to pay for the gas, what with being a monster and all, but Hades had given her the card to keep up appearances and lower the chance of mortal police trying to investigate us.

She got back into the driver's seat and slammed the door shut, the sound of Greek wailing beginning to shake the entire care. I shook my head and walked towards the rest stop building, a large cube that held two mini-stores, seven different fast food restaurants, a dining area, and bathrooms in the back.

After taking advantage of the bathroom break, I went around the rest stop, trying to find the di Angelos. It wasn't that hard, actually. They'd been standing in front of one of the Dipping Dots vending machines, staring at the eight different flavors like they came from outer space.

"Superman?" Bianca asked, her eyebrows furrowed together. "What kind of ice cream flavor is that?"

"Ooh, ooh! I want cookies'n'cream!" Nico said, pointing to the picture on the front of the vending machine. He then turned to me and pulled out his puppy dig eyes, huge brown eyes that could convince anyone to do anything if he tried hard enough. "Pretty please, Bianca?"

"If Andy says it's okay…"

"Yeah, don't worry about it," I said, pulling out five dollar bills. "Do you want one?" I asked Bianca, putting in the money and pressing the cookies'n'cream button for Nico.

Bianca pursed her lips together, her eyes scanning over the different flavors before saying, "I think I want cookies'n'cream, too. If it's not too much trouble."

"Of course not," I assured her, adding in some more cash and pressing the button again. I then bent down and got the two cups of ice cream, handing one to each of the di Angelos.

"Thank you," they both said respectfully before tearing into the ice cream.

I wonder how long it's been since the two of them had gotten ice cream. I mean, I knew they had it within the Lotus Hotel and Casino, but I knew Bianca didn't let Nico go downstairs all that often, and if they did go, I knew she wouldn't have let her brother within ten feet of ice cream, or anything with a lot of sugar.

My intention had been to let the two eat their ice cream in peace inside of the rest stop, but when I heard Alecto's car horn, which sounded like a vulture getting its insides torn out, I knew she had been annoyed by us taking so long.

"We better head back," I told Nico and Bianca, "before the lawyer loses it."

"I don't like him," Nico said through a mouthful of ice cream. "He's scary."

"And strange," Bianca added. "I've never met a lawyer who told a ten-year-old to use a bush for a bathroom before."

"Neither have I," I said. "But he was your father's most trusted lawyer, so we have to obey. Trust me, he'll leave once you're both situated in your new school."

"Where is Westover Hall anyways?"

"Bar Harbor, Maine. I hear it's very nice this time of year."

"Enough chitter-chatter, get in," Alecto growled, her eyes shining cruelly in the fading sunlight. I rolled my eyes at her theatrics, helping Nico and Bianca to get into the backseat without spilling ice cream onto the leather seats. I think Alecto would've actually ripped their throats out if they so much as sweat while being in her prized vehicle.

The little conversation we had going ended abruptly thanks to Alecto's choice of music. However, by the time we were on the freeway, I turned around to find Nico and Bianca sleeping, curled up with each other in a way that would cause most mothers to take a picture of and keep as future blackmail.

"Are the godlings sleeping?" Alecto asked, her eyes lifting up to the rearview mirror for a split second before returning to the road.

"Yup, they're out like a light."

Alecto smiled, revealing her fangs as she did. Now I knew where vampires came from – the author clearly had an encounter with the Furies and then lived to tell the tale. Screw the version of _empousai_ being vampires, Furies were a hundred times worse if you weren't on good terms with them. At least with an _empousa,_ you'd die, but the Furies could torture for the rest of your afterlife too.

"Excellent," she purred.

Her hand then shot down to the clutch, pulling it all the way back. I didn't have time to ask her what she was doing when Alecto floored it, leaving my stomach behind somewhere in Colorado. She laughed, more like cackled, hysterically, shadows racing outside the windows. It sounded as if we were driving in a hurricane, wind howling by and flinging small pieces of debris at us, light breaking through the shadows like lightning.

When Alecto finally eased her foot off the accelerator and returned her stick shift to where it should've been, I asked her to pull over, my meager breakfast making a reappearance on the side of the road. I heard Alecto hissing in disgust from the car, but I told her if she had warned me that we were going to shadow-travel, I would've been fine.

She shrugged, muttering, "Weak stomach," under her breath as we took exit 73A to Bar Harbor, Maine.

I'd only ever been to Maine once before on a mission for Artemis, who needed me to hunt down her sacred stag for the gods' animal show and tell that they did one year. Yes, this was a real thing, and it was just as amusing as you can imagine it to be.

From what I remember, a lot of Maine was mainly (pun intended) wilderness, tall trees and bushes and dirt roads wherever you looked. Bar Harbor pretty much fit the description, except that the ocean was only a ten minute walk away if you lived in the city proper.

We reached Westover Hall at three in the morning EST, the time zones from "driving" from Las Vegas to Bar Harbor making it the middle of the night. Even Alecto wasn't crazy enough to try and sign in the di Angelos at this hour, so she took us to the closest hotel and got us two rooms for the night. One for her, and one for the three of us.

I offered to sleep in the reclining chair that was in the room, but Bianca wouldn't let me, forcing Nico to sleep in the same bed as hers for the night. I don't know what had been in that ice cream, because although sleeping the majority of the way here, they were still able to sleep the whole night.

Thankfully, I didn't have any dreams that night, abating a whole ton of conversations I really didn't want to get into. I woke up before the children of Hades, swearing internally after I realized that we hadn't passed through D.C., something that was critically important in Bianca's story. Before they woke up, I implanted those memories into their heads, making sure to send a note via _aura_ to Alecto so that she was aware as well.

Her response had literally been the letters _IDC_ scrawled out in messy handwriting on the back of my original note, which I promptly flushed down the toilet afterwards. Oh, Alecto, ever the sympathetic one.

Once Nico and Bianca were awake, I took them downstairs to eat at the complimentary breakfast bar that came with the hotel. While they went to make themselves waffles, I found Alecto sitting in the far corner, nursing a paper cup full of pure black coffee. I knew she was a creature of the Underworld and all, but seriously, not even a packet of sugar? Now I knew why she was so bitter all of the time.

I ate a blueberry muffin and got some of my own coffee, pouring cream and sugar until it was a light brown. Alecto scowled at my coffee disapprovingly, but I didn't care. Bianca and Nico ate their waffles and also brought some boxes of cereal, which I kept for them in my bag.

"The office opens at nine," Alecto said, setting down her now empty cup onto the table. "We must head out now."

I held up a hand, preventing her from rushing us out of the hotel. "Are you guys ready?" I asked, finishing the last of my coffee before stacking Alecto's cup inside of my own. The two of them nodded, Alecto checked us out of the hotel, and I went ahead to get the children inside the car before Alecto left us behind.

" _Your bracelet,"_ Alecto reminded me in Ancient Greek as we parked in front of the school, the black castle-like structure looming over us like we were about to enter Hogwarts instead of a boarding school.

" _Already done,"_ I replied in the same tongue, rolling the star charm between my fingertips. I then turned around to the di Angelos. "We're here."

"Do we have to go to school?" Nico whined as I opened the door, pushing my seat up so that they could get out of the back.

"This is what your father wanted, for you both to have an excellent education. In fact, he chose Westover Hall after learning of its academic accolades," Alecto said, picking up her briefcase from the trunk.

"I don't know what accolade means," Nico pointed out, walking to the trunk and slinging his backpack over his shoulders.

"Awards, _fratellino,"_ Bianca said, sliding her own backpack over her shoulders. I picked up the two duffel bags from the trunk. That was everything that Nico and Bianca owned, even after spending over seventy years inside the magical hotel.

The three of us followed Alecto inside. After some dreadful meetings with the vice principal, Dr. Thorn (a.k.a. the Manticore), I was allowed to take Nico and Bianca to their dorm rooms while Alecto stayed behind to finish the logistics of it all.

We set up Nico's room first, helping him unpack his clothes and circling all his classes on the map we'd been provided with. Nico took care of his Mythomagic stuff, refusing to let us lay a single finger on any card or figurine as he carefully placed them on his bookshelf. The other half of the room was empty, but seeing that there was another bed, I figured it was that he hadn't gotten an assigned roommate yet.

Nico tagged along with us to set up Bianca's room, which had just been unpacking her clothes. She had brought her colored pencils and sketchbook, setting those down on the nightstand closest to her bed. The other bed in Bianca's room was dressed, and judging from the anime posters on the wall, I knew she'd get to meet her roommate later tonight.

Once I was sure that they were both completely settled in, I gave them both hugs, promising that I'd try to visit during the school year when I had vacation. I then dropped them off at the school store for their uniform fittings, waving them goodbye as two of the school's ambassadors showed up, promising that they'd take care of the di Angelos from there.

I met up with Alecto in the parking lot. She had shifted back to her true form, her leathery bat wings protruding from a ratty white dress. But she had managed to keep her human hands, though I wasn't sure why.

"Tell Hades that they're situated," I said, watching as Alecto pressed a button on her dash, causing for her prized car to shimmer for a second, revealing her poison-laced whip that she usually carried at her waist. "I'll check in periodically throughout the school year to see how it's going."

"Sounds like you've got this taken care of, honey," Alecto said, smiling smugly as she saw me roll my eyes. She knew how much I hated being called honey, yet she did it anyways.

"I do. See you around, Alecto."

The Fury then launched into the air, vanishing into a dark speck amongst the clouds.

I followed suit, turning into mist and traveling back home.

* * *

I'd been working in the lab late one night when I got the call.

It was December now, and semester exams in Columbia had just finished, leaving all of us brain dead. Most of my mortal friends had taken advantage of winter break to go back home, but I stayed behind, working on the research project my chemistry professor, Dr. Atomos, had put me in two months ago.

I'd been in the middle of peering down a microscope, taking note of how the mutated cells were reacting to the new drug we were testing when I heard someone yell, "Andy!" so loudly that I almost snapped my pencil in half.

"Jesus, a little warning next time?" I half-shouted, setting down my pencil and notepad, lifting up my goggles so I could see clearly.

"Sorry 'bout that," Thalia said, a sly grin on her face, letting me know that she wasn't really sorry at all.

"What's up?" I asked. "I seriously doubt you're calling about my research."

"You do research?"

"I rest my case. Anyways, what can I do for you?"

"Grover called us about some powerful demigods in the school he's at right now. Chiron wants us to go get them."

"Who's us?" I asked, raising my eyebrows at the daughter of Zeus.

"Percy, Annabeth, and me."

"You're all capable demigods, so why am I needed?"

Thalia pursed her lips, trying to find the right words. "Grover said something about smelling you on them. Crazy, I know, but it's a lot easier to convince kids to follow us when they recognize a familiar face."

"Is this absolutely necessary?" I egged on. "Does Grover think my presence will be essential to this mission?"

"What? Is your bacteria going to die when you're gone?"

"Not what I'm testing, first of all; and second of all, I can freeze it, and it'll be fine. But you didn't answer my question, Thalia."

"Yes, we think you're the key to getting these kids to camp, especially if they know you. Maybe you've run into them before on one of your missions."

"Probably," I shrugged. "Okay, I'm in. Where do you need me to be?"

"Sally Jackson's apartment, ten minutes."

"I'll see you there."

I waved my hand through the Iris-message, severing the connection. After making sure that all of my lab equipment was safely put away and all my tools were being sanitized, I tucked my research into my folder and turned on the alarm to the lab. Once my duties as a research student was done, I walked into the nearest shadow, appearing right outside Sally Jackson's door.

It didn't take long for Sally to open the door after I rang the doorbell, the older woman immediately engulfing me in a hug. I returned the gesture, relaxing as she smelled of her famous chocolate chip cookies.

Sure enough, when I went in, I saw the Percy and Thalia attacking the cookies like starving hellhounds, shoving one in their mouth the second they had room. I laughed at their chipmunk-like cheeks, taking a cookie for myself before they were all gone. I made sure to snag one for Annabeth as well.

"You're a part of this, too?" Sally asked me, tucking a stray hair behind her ear.

"Just got recruited by this one," I answered, gesturing to Thalia, who gave me a smile despite her mouth being close to bursting.

"Well, if it's any consolation, Percy told me how grateful he was to have known someone when he found out about being a demigod. Made his transition much easier."

"Mom!" Percy shouted in embarrassment, his face a bright red, causing Thalia to snicker at him. He responded by slapping her arm in a good natured manner, earning himself a static shock from Thalia when she poked his chest.

"Hey, I would've liked to know someone before learning the truth, too," Thalia said after swallowing down the rest of her cookies with a glass of water.

"Same here," I added.

Percy was saved from any further embarrassment when the doorbell rang again, signaling Annabeth's arrival. She came inside, dressed in a light gray winter coat and matching ski cap, a few of her blonde curls cascading around her face. On her shoulders, Annabeth wore Tyson's new gift for her – a navy blue backpack with a silver owl embroidered on the front most pocket. I don't know who he got to do the embroidering, but it was beautiful nonetheless. Sheathed at her waist was her dagger, the hilt hidden underneath her jacket.

"Ready to go when you are," Annabeth said, taking a bite of the cookie I'd saved for her.

"Let me get my keys, and we can go," Sally said, finishing buttoning up her winter coat and wrapping a light blue scarf around her neck.

"I've got them, Mom," Percy said, dangling the keys from the end of his index finger.

"Thank you, Percy. Now we should really get going if we want to make it to Maine before nightfall."

* * *

Thankfully this car drive to Maine didn't involve a crazy demon lady driving us through shadows at breakneck speed.

I was seated in the back of the car alongside Annabeth and Thalia, allowing Percy to take shotgun with his mom. Sally had wanted me to take the passenger seat as I was the oldest, but I told her I was fine hanging out with my friends in the back.

For the duration of the eight-hour drive, Sally rattled on and on about Percy as a baby, before I'd ever met him. Many of her stories seemed to revolve around Percy in a bathtub, which of course had him redder than a ripe tomato, while Annabeth and Thalia tried hard not to burst out laughing the entire time.

"One time, Percy got stuck in the toilet," Sally began, but Percy cut her off by reaching for the volume dial for the radio and cranked it up until her voice was drowned out by whatever song was playing.

Eight hours and about ninety or so baby stories later, we pulled up outside of the black castle that was Westover Hall. In the four months that I'd been gone, the school had added gargoyles to the turrets at the four corners of the building, giving the impression of being in a prison rather than a boarding school.

"Oh, yeah. This'll be fun," Thalia said, wiping away the fog on the car window, peering outside.

"Are you sure you don't want me to wait?" Sally asked.

"No, thanks, Mom," Percy said. "I don't know how long this will take. We'll be okay."

"But how will you get back? I'm worried, Percy."

"If things go south, I'll get us out of there," I said.

"We'll keep him out of trouble, Ms. Jackson," Annabeth said, earning herself a faint smile from Sally.

We then got out of the car, waving goodbye to Sally as the silhouette of her car faded in the thick fog that was pouring from the forest. Behind the school, I could hear the waves churning below, crashing against the rocky hillside.

"Let's go," Percy said, leading us towards the front door.

"No," I said, stopping dead in my tracks. Dr. Thorn would recognize me on sight, Mist or not. After all, I'd been the one to bring the di Angelos here. "We're not going in through the front entrance."

"Why not?" Thalia questioned.

"I've been here before on a mission. I'd get recognized in a heartbeat. That gives us two options: you three go ahead and I wait out here as your escape plan, or I shadow-travel the four of us inside."

"We'll go ahead," Annabeth decided for them. "Plus you're too old to pass off as a boarder here. No offense."

I smiled. "None taken. Call me if you need me."

The three walked inside, the great wooden door slamming shut behind them, keeping them within the walls of the school.

I turned in the direction of the forest, expanding my senses for Artemis' aura. I knew her Hunters were around here somewhere, I just needed to find them first. There was something I needed to tell her, something that would keep Zoe and Bianca alive.

The fog and snow made it damn near impossible to walk through the forest without tripping over roots or slamming into trees, but a little fire later, and I was fine. I decided to wait for the Hunters to show up by the clearing next to the cliff that overlooked the ocean, where Dr. Thorn would disappear with Annabeth on his back.

Sure enough, a few minutes before the fight would begin, I sensed Artemis closing in. I shadow-traveled to her location, swaying slightly on my feet as I did. Geez, I was out of practice with my powers from living at college. I'd have to work out a schedule where I got some training time by myself. Anyhow, when I found Artemis, she was alongside her Hunters, the twenty-some girls all moving swiftly in the direction of Westover Hall.

"Halt! Who goes there?" the girl in the front, Zoe, asked, the Hunters all training their bows on me.

"It's just me," I said, my fire dissipating the fog around me.

"Andy, what are you doing here?" Artemis demanded, her silvery yellow eyes glinting dangerously in the mist. "I thought you were off in school."

"Brought into an extraction mission, but that's not important. I need to talk to you, urgently."

"My lady, what about the monster?" Zoe asked, her silver circlet glowing around her forehead, standing out against her inky black hair.

"Pursue him. If he threatens anyone, kill him."

"Yes, my lady. Move out, girls!"

Zoe and the rest of the Hunters continued ahead, leaving me alone with Artemis. We kept walking behind the girls in case that we were needed, but we left enough distance that none of them would be able to overhear us.

"What could be so urgent that you interfere with a hunt?" Artemis asked, genuinely curious.

"Something bad is about to happen, and when it does, I need you to give this to Apollo." I handed her a folded sheet of paper that held everything he needed to know about this upcoming prophecy.

"Why don't you deliver it to him yourself?"

"I'm not allowed to explain, I'm sorry. Let's just say, I'm not going to be around very much in the upcoming week."

"Andromeda, _explain."_

"I can't, my lady." I sighed and readjusted my ponytail, having a feeling this would be the last time I did it for a while. "Take care of them until they're at camp."

"And here I thought my brother was the cryptic one," Artemis muttered under her breath, pocketing the note inside her parka. She then looked up, swearing under her breath. "He's here."

She took off, and I shadow-traveled back to the clearing, where Dr. Thorn was holding Nico and Bianca hostage. Percy and Thalia were in front of him, their weapons drawn, their bodies taut as they waited for an opportunity to strike.

Nico was about to say something when he caught sight of me, but I held a finger to my lips, telling him to stay quiet. If Dr. Thorn didn't know about our friendship, they had a better chance of not being killed right then and there.

Percy and Thalia's opportunity came in the form of Annabeth. She was invisible at the moment, but when Dr. Thorn yowled in pain, I knew she had landed a blow. He sputtered curses in Ancient Greek, revealing his true form as he did.

The three of them began fighting, giving Bianca and Nico enough time to get out of the fray. Thorn shot a volley of thorns at Percy, denting the shield that Tyson had given him during the summer. Thalia had gotten distracted by Percy getting hurt, allowing for Thorn to rip Aegis off her arm. Annabeth was fighting to keep Thorn's tail away from her and the di Angelos. Grover was on the floor, having been plowed down by Annabeth earlier.

Then, the first silver arrow sprouted out of Thorn's shoulder, and I knew it was my turn. Annabeth tried to charge the Manticore, but I pushed her out of the way, jumping forward with my two hunting knives and landing onto Thorn's back, digging my knives into his flesh.

He yelled again, the Stygian iron draining his very essence while he thrashed around, trying to knock me off. I pushed my knives in deeper. If I was about to go over this cliff, he was going to suffer first.

"Fire!" Zoe ordered, though I couldn't really hear much from the wind whistling through my ears as I held on for dear life.

"No!" Percy screamed.

But it was too late.

The Hunters unleashed their arrows, pegging Dr. Thorn in his neck, chest, and leg. He staggered back towards the cliff, wailing, "This is not the end, Huntress! You shall pay!"

"Andy!" my friends shouted, but by then, the Manticore had already jumped off the side of the cliff, taking me down with him.


	27. Chapter 27

Now, I know what you're thinking. _Andy, why didn't you just shadow-travel off Thorn's back like you always do? Or why didn't you kill him?_

There are simple answers, surprisingly. You don't hear those words too often in the whacked up world that we live in. Anyways, I couldn't shadow-travel or mist-travel off of Thorn's back, because whatever darkness we'd plunged into wasn't natural.

I couldn't control it.

As for the killing matter, the size and intelligence of a monster equals the difficulty it takes to kill. Since Dr. Thorn is one of the smarter monsters and is as big as a lion, something like a few arrows to the hide or being stabbed in the back wouldn't prove fatal unless someone had managed to severely injure an internal organ or blood vessel.

So, as I'd expected, I was captured by Dr. Thorn.

When we landed wherever it was that he brought me, he bound my hands together with rope laced with Celestial bronze. I swore under my breath when I saw the bronze strands entwined with the rope. The blessed metal would prevent me from using my powers, and with the way my wrists were awkwardly bent, I wouldn't be able to cut through the ropes unless I broke my wrist in about twenty different places.

"What is this?" a low rumbling voice asked, like the earth had turned to Jell-O beneath my feet. "This is not a child of the Big Three."

I glanced down at my bracelet, breathing a sigh of relief when I saw my knives sheathed on my wrist. I didn't want Dr. Thorn to accuse my being a daughter of Hades if he noticed that I had stabbed him with Stygian iron, a metal only children of the Underworld or those who Hades permitted can wield.

"I know, General. They escaped with that infernal moon goddess," Dr. Thorn spat bitterly, rubbing at his neck, where a Hunter had nailed him with an arrow.

"So, you've failed." The General was not amused, his tone of voice alone being cold enough to drop the temperature of the room a few degrees.

"We can still use the girl." Dr. Thorn shoved me forward, and I spat in his face, earning myself a slap. My face snapped to the side, the skin stinging, but I didn't even flinch. "She is friends with many of them, including Artemis herself."

"Is that so? Well, perhaps you aren't completely useless. Bring her forward at once!"

Before Thorn could continue shoving me around, I walked forward on my own accord, holding my head up high. I wasn't going to show the General any fear, not if I could help it. Thorn trailed right behind me, pressing his thorn-tipped tail right against the small of my back, daring me to try anything suspicious. If he was so afraid of me, then maybe he should've bound my legs, too.

"She's ancient, for a demigod that is," the General said, observing me like a specimen under a microscope. "Nineteen or twenty. But I haven't the slightest idea about your parent. Hephaestus, perhaps? Maybe Nemesis or Hecate?"

"Who is your mortal parent, girl?" Thorn growled, digging in the tip of his tail hard enough just to break through my skin. I felt his poison enter my bloodstream instantly, gritting my teeth to prevent showing my discomfort.

"I don't know," I snapped. "I was abandoned at an orphanage as a newborn."

"Have you been claimed?"

"No."

"How do you know the children of the Big Three?"

I stayed silent. Thorn dug his thorn in deeper, causing for a thin stream of blood to start oozing down my back.

"How do you know the children of the Big Three?" Thorn asked again, his teeth clenched together as he tried to torture the information out of me. Good thing Ares and Artemis both taught me how to withstand torture that was way worse than what Thorn was doing to me at the moment.

"That's enough, Thorn," the General said, scowling at the Manticore. "She's clearly not going to say anything about that. Follow me, dear, I have something to show you."

With Thorn still trailing behind me, I followed the General out of the dark room he'd been holding me in. Now in the sunlight, I finally got a good look at him. He was tall and muscular, with light brown skin and slicked-back dark hair. He wore an expensive brown silk suit like the guys on Wall Street wear, but you'd never mistake him for a broker. He had a brutal face, huge shoulders, and hands that could snap a flagpole in half. His eyes were like stone, like he'd stared Medusa in the eye and only partially turned into a statue.

We walked past a garden and up a hillside, stopping at the top. Looking at the ground, I realized exactly why the General wanted me here.

Because laying under the weight of the sky was none other than Kyle Martin.

"Am I supposed to feel sorry for him?" I asked the General. "He's a monster that tried to kill my friends multiple times."

"A-Andy, please help m-me," Kyle begged, his voice impossibly tight as his entire body trembled under the weight of the sky. In the middle of his brown hair was now a streak of gray, like his little sister had taken a Hot Hues and dragged it across a single piece of his hair.

"No." I turned to the General again. "What exactly am I doing here?"

"You're giving me a chance to see what kind of person you are, Andy," the General said, pleased as punch that Kyle had let my name slip. "And from what I witnessed, you're cruel, ruthless, unforgiving, all great qualities in a leader."

"Um, thanks?"

"You would've fit in amongst the rest of us in this army, but alas, you aligned yourself with the gods, and for that, you must pay."

The next thing I knew, the General swept me off my feet with a swift kick and basically punted me next to Kyle. He groaned and rolled to the side, the weight of the sky landing directly on my back.

I began sweating almost immediately, the sky weighing a billion times more than anything I'd ever lifted before in my life. I adjusted myself to get on my knees, letting the weight rest on my shoulders and hands more than my back.

"Go to Tartarus!" I shouted at the three men, who had been watching me in amusement.

"Oh, Andy," the General cooed, trying to caress my face. I tried to bite his finger off, earning myself my second slap from the General. "I already have."

The three then walked a few feet before disappearing in a swirl of dust, probably heading for their base in Washington D.C. Gods, I hope Artemis gave Apollo that note by now. Zoe and Bianca can't be allowed on this quest, not if I'm to do my job right.

I don't know how long I was holding the sky, but I knew my strength was already fading. Every breath I took hurt, like I was being forced to breathe while Irish-step dancers used my back as a stage while my stomach rested on a bed of broken glass.

No, I told myself, sweat pouring down my face, I wasn't going to die like this. Damn these Celestial bronze ropes, or else I would've gotten the shadows and some plants to help bear the load.

 _Apollo,_ I thought internally, pouring my heart and soul into my prayer, _did you receive my message?_

 _Yes, I did, Andy. Care to explain what the Hades you mean by "Watch Artemis closely?"_

 _That's what I mean. Don't lose sight of your sister. Dangerous things are stirring, and if we are to get anywhere in terms of preparation for war, we need her to be safe._

 _You know she doesn't like my presence._

 _I'm willing to take the blame, Apollo. Please, for the love of Olympus, don't let Artemis out of your sight._

 _…_

 _You lost her already, haven't you?_

 _I can't see her. It's like my Oracle's blocked or something._

 _No, I'm afraid that would be the Mist._

 _How do you know that?_

 _Because as far as I know, you have no idea where I am, and I'm looking at her right now._

 _Wait, where_ are _you, Andy? I can't see you, either._

 _I have to go curse out some Titans now, can't talk._

 _Andy?_

 _Sorry, Apollo._

 _Andy, don't you dare-!_

Like I told Apollo, I was staring directly at Lady Artemis, who was bound in Celestial bronze chains. Her silvery dress was completely in tatters, barely preserving her modesty. Ichor stained her forehead and her arms, signs that she had fought off capture for a while before either being outnumbered or ambushed. Behind her stood the General and Kyle, Backbiter glinting in the latter's hand.

"How's our mortal guest?" the General asked.

Kyle knelt down next to me, reaching a hand forward like he wanted to take my temperature. I guess he underestimated my endurance, because the second he got close, I tried to, and succeeded, in biting his hand. I cringed as the taste of his blood filled my mouth while he staggered back, wiping his bloodied palm against his jeans.

Artemis was smiling at me from her chains, but the second the attention returned to her, she went back to sneering at the men.

"My guess is that she's much weaker, but she's clearly still conscious and alert. Not to worry, though, it's only a matter of hours before she goes catatonic."

"Want to bet?" I said, venom dripping from my voice as I glared at Kyle. He sneered in reply.

"You heard the boy," the General continued, disregarding my previous statement. "Decide!"

Artemis took a good, hard look at me, her expression morphing from one of anger and concern in a matter of seconds. "How dare you torture a maiden like this!"

"She will die soon," Kyle said nonchalantly, tossing Backbiter back and forth between his hands. "You can save her."

"Artemis, don't you dare," I groaned, feeling as if my ribs were catching fire. "I can do this."

"Free my hands," Artemis said despite my protests. I shook my head, weakly mumbling, "No," but she didn't care.

Kyle then slashed at her chains, severing them with Backbiter in one deft stroke. She then moved next to me, taking the burden of the sky.

 _Let go,_ she told me, her eyes showing how exhausted she really was. _I will not have you die due to stubbornness._

 _And I refuse to be used as bait. I will stay with you until I'm physically unable to._

 _You will die; the boy wasn't lying about that._

 _Then so be it._

I knew I had surprised Kyle and Atlas when I didn't drop from exhaustion. Good, I thought, they had no right to judge what my limits are simply because I'm a girl. Everything hurt, and sweat poured in rivulets down my face, making it impossible for me to see clearly.

But I didn't care.

Atlas began chuckling. "You are as predictable as you were easy to beat, Artemis."

"You surprised me," Artemis said, her voice strained. "It will not happen again."

"Indeed it will not," Atlas said happily. "Now you are out of the way for good! I knew you could not resist helping a young maiden. That is, after all, your specialty, my dear."

"You called me ancient!" I roared, earning a swift kick to the side. I paled when I felt my grip on the sky loosen, but I went back, the weight settling back onto my shoulders.

"You know nothing of mercy, you swine," Artemis spat.

"On that," he said, "we can agree. Kyle, you may kill the girl now."

"Try, and I'll bite something more important than your finger off," I threatened, causing Kyle to flinch and pale. Some hotshot.

Kyle hesitated – a good decision on his part. "She-she may yet be useful, sir. Further bait."

"Bah! You truly believe that?"

"Yes, General. They will come for her. I'm sure."

"Then she can remain here, a prisoner of the sky's burden like me. I'll send _dracaenae_ to guard her when she finally falls. If she survives her injuries, you may keep her alive until the winter solstice. After that, if our sacrifice goes as planned, her life will be meaningless. The lives of _all_ mortals will be meaningless."

Kyle bent down and tried to move me from the sky, but another growl from me, and he was practically running back down the hill, wanting to get as far away from me as possible.

"You will never find the monster you seek," Artemis said. "Your plan will fail."

"How little you know, my young goddess," Atlas cooed, like we were ignorant babies. "Even now, your darling attendants begin their quest to find you. They shall play directly into my hands. Now, if you'll excuse us, we have a long journey to make. We must greet your Hunters and make sure their quest is…challenging."

He then began to laugh, walking backwards as he was consumed by the dust for the second time that day.

"Stupid buffoon," I hissed, my wrists aching from the awkward way they were still bound. "Do you mind cutting the ropes, Artemis?"

She shook her head weakly. "They have stripped me of all my weapons."

"Well, I still have mine."

Her eyes flashed with curiosity. _Where?_ she asked.

 _My bracelet. Pull on the raindrop charm._

I held my bound hands towards the goddess, watching as she hesitantly pulled on the charm. Instantly, it transformed into a dagger in her hand. Before the _dracaenae_ guards could appear, Artemis cut the ropes tying my hands together. I spared a brief second to rub my wrists before pressing the button on the dagger's hilt, returning it to its charm on my bracelet.

 _Handy little bracelet you've got there,_ Artemis noted. _What else do you have?_

 _Four daggers, a bow, my sword, and two hunting knives. I can add more if I want, but that's what you'll typically find me armed with. And the charms are so inconspicuous that no one really pays them any attention._

 _I wouldn't have known that is where you kept your weapons had you not shown me. Did you create the bracelet yourself?_

 _Yes. I found an old spell book in Athena's library and got one of my Hecate friends to help enchant the bracelet._

 _Does Athena know about the spell book?_

 _I asked to borrow it. She didn't ask why I needed it._

 _I know this is strange, but how are you still awake? Even as an Olympian goddess, I'm extremely taxed. Although being trained by us, you're still a mortal._

 _Talking distracts me from the pain. As long as I can focus on anything else, I'll be fine._

 _You're much stronger than you appear to be, Andromeda. You'd make a fine Huntress._

 _Artemis, you know I'm flattered, but Zeus has forbidden it. I'd love to be with the Hunters, but there's no point in pining after something I know I'll never have._

The goddess went silent afterwards, like she was having an internal argument with someone else through telepathic communication.

Gods, this was going to be one hell of a week.

* * *

I don't know how this was physically possible, but I somehow managed to fall asleep while holding the weight of the sky. The guards had thought I finally passed out, but when they couldn't move me, they realized I was merely sleeping and left me alone.

I didn't remember if I dreamed or not. If I had, the message had been interrupted by the amount of pain I was in, which was still as persistent even while I slept.

"How long was I out?" I asked Artemis, practically on my stomach at this point. But I knew if that happened, I'd be completely crushed, so even though this was the most agonizing thing I'd ever experienced in my life, I forced myself to my knees.

"Four days."

Never mind, I guess I did pass out.

"Jesus Christ," I muttered under my breath.

Artemis raised her eyebrows at me. "Did you just swear with another religion's main figure?"

"Force of habit. Grew up in a Christian orphanage."

"I see. And do you still believe in the Christian God?"

"Busting out the hard questions, huh?" I chuckled softly. "I do. I mean, if the gods and Olympus exist, why can't He? Don't get me wrong, I was never super religious to begin with, but I'd like to think there was a benevolent creator of the universe."

"And what of Chaos?"

"What about them? Sure, they might be the creator as well, but they've proved to be temperamental. Sometimes, when they're happy, they'll bless entire planets. If they're upset, they'll wipe out an entire galaxy. The Christian God wouldn't do that, and that's where I stand on the subject, so can we please talk about literally anything else? You have no idea how awkward it is talking to a god about God."

Artemis laughed at my discomfort, a breath of fresh air after all the misery we'd been through.

"Maybe you'll finally tell me what that letter to Apollo was about," Artemis said innocently.

"I can't, sorry," I said, a rueful smile on my lips.

The Fates said I could finally reveal my secrets to everyone once I had fixed all of Rick Riordan's mistakes. Unfortunately, their approximate date was 2012 at the earliest, possibly even 2013. To put this in perspective, it's 2007 at the moment. That means another five or six years of secrets that I have to keep undercover.

"Then talk to me about college. Tell me what about it is so special that half the council was willing to fight Father for you to go."

I told her about all my classes and teachers, about my clubs and friends. I even told her about my new research, making sure to keep the details as short and sweet as possible, because earlier when I'd been talking about the four nitrogen bases that make up DNA, her eyes had glazed over in boredom. And that had been the simplest part of the entire thing.

Much to Artemis' relief, I shut up the second I sensed people approaching. The sky seemed to grow more agitated, causing me to groan as I felt the bones in my back crack. Did the weight of the world just get heavier, or am I crazy?

"Andromeda, let go," Artemis pleaded. "You won't survive this much longer. It's a miracle you've made it five days as it is."

I shook my head. "I won't give Father the opportunity to kill me himself. I'd rather be crushed by the sky."

Before Artemis could continue arguing, I heard a girl shout, "My lady!"

"Stop!" Artemis shouted. "It is a trap. You must leave now."

The girl, who I struggled to recognize as Zoe, was crying, tugging at the chains that bound Artemis' legs together. The next thing I knew, my body went limp as someone pulled me out from underneath the sky, a groan escaping Artemis' lips as she held the burden by herself.

I felt weightless, like my body was going to float into the sky and never come back down. Someone was forcing me to chew on a square of ambrosia, using a strip of my ruined shirt to wipe the sweat off my forehead.

"Get up if you can," another girl told me, her silver clothes as bright as a beacon to my eyes. "This is not a place to die."

I couldn't get up past my knees, feeling extremely light-headed and weak. All my strength and energy had been poured into maintaining the weight of the sky on my back, meaning if I so much as tried to tap into my powers, I'd pass out right then and there.

"Andy," I heard Percy gasp. "You're alive."

"So much faith," I said, trying for a smile. But I'm pretty sure it looked more like a grimace.

"Ah, such a touching reunion," Atlas growled behind us, Kyle standing on his immediate right and a man in black body armor stood on his left. The girl who'd helped feed me ambrosia, Atalanta, paled, her grip tight on her bow.

Atlas made a gesture to one of the _dracaenae_ that had been tasked with bearing the golden sarcophagus of Kronos. She came to me, slapped some handcuffs on my wrist, and forced me back onto the ground, laying face first in the dirt. Then, I felt the tip of a sword on the back of my neck.

"Kyle," Thalia snarled. "Let her go."

"That is the General's decision, Thalia. But it's good to see you again," he responded, way too casually for someone threatening the daughter of his employer.

Thalia began cursing him out, biting her tongue after Kyle began adding pressure onto his blade.

The General chuckled. "So much for old friends. And you, Zoe. It's been a long time. How is my little traitor? I will enjoy killing you."

"Do not respond," Artemis groaned. "Do not challenge him."

"Leave her alone," I spat, earning myself a mouthful of dirt.

"I think you should learn your place, Andy," Kyle cooed, kicking me in the ribs. I hardly flinched. Being kicked in the ribs was nothing compared to holding the sky.

"Wait a second," Percy said. "You're Atlas?"

"So, even the stupidest of the heroes can finally figure something out. Yes, I am Atlas, the general of the Titans and terror of the gods. Congratulations. I will kill you presently, as soon as I deal with this wretched girl."

"You're not going to hurt Zoe," Percy promised. "I won't let you."

"You have no right to interfere, little hero. This is a family matter," Atlas sneered.

"A family matter?"

"Yes," Zoe said bleakly. "Atlas is my father."

"A terrible one at that," I added, dodging another kick to the ribs. Luckily for me, the clearing we were in was surrounded in mist – both the mortal and magical kind. Mist meant water, so I tried using it to regain enough strength to not be a dead weight when the final battle began.

"Let Artemis go," she demanded.

I heard Atlas walk over to the sky. "Perhaps you'd like to take the sky for her, then? Be my guest."

"Don't!" I shouted. "It won't help."

"I forbid you from offering," Artemis added, taking a moment to glance at me, worry evident in her eyes.

She was right; I should've died days ago. Although being a daughter of a Titan, I knew that didn't make me invulnerable to every Titan punishment. Hell, if a child of Atlas couldn't tolerate the weight of the sky, how was I, a daughter of Kronos, supposed to?

I glanced up behind my, noticing that Kyle was no longer focused on guarding me. I bit my lip as I dislocated my wrist to pick the lock of my handcuffs. Once I heard the soft click that signaled the lock was undone, I popped my wrist back into place, biting back a cry of pain again.

Percy went to challenge Atlas, Thalia lunged towards Kyle, and Atalanta headed for the man in body armor. That left me to deal with the six _dracaenae_ women, who had pulled out their swords and were standing in front of the sarcophagus, preparing to defend it with their lives.

I summoned Epithymia, my muscles burning merely from the weight of my own sword. Once I got out of here, I was going to get a full body massage with Leah. Gods know I deserve something nice for once.

I waited for the snake women to make the first move, easily dodging a sloppy attempt to run me through. I whirled around, slicing through the rookie who'd made the mistake, the five remaining _dracaenae_ hissing in anger.

They didn't attack one-on-one, the rest of them rushing forward, screaming that they'd avenge their fallen sister. I was acutely aware of everything else going on around me as I parried and dodged strikes that would've killed me if I hadn't caught them in time.

Thalia had backed Kyle up to the edge of the cliff, her electric blue eyes glowing with rage as she used Aegis to push him back. Percy was now holding up the sky, allowing for Artemis and Zoe to team up against Atlas. Atalanta was holding her own against the man, but a dark red splotch stained her parka, and from the way her attacks were slowing, I knew she'd been hurt.

I killed another _dracaena_ , causing her to explode like a piñata. The remaining four dracaenae cursed me out, but they picked up each corner of the sarcophagus and bolted back in the direction of the _Princess Andromeda._ Had I been at full strength, I would've knocked the four dracaenae and the sarcophagus over the edge of the cliff, but my crazy burst of adrenaline was already starting to fade, leaving me light-headed again.

Not yet, I told myself, charging towards Atalanta. The man hadn't been expecting me, fully focused on fighting off the Huntress's knives, so I was able to knock him out by slamming my hilt against the back of his head.

"Thank you," Atalanta said, her voice tight with pain. One of her hands was firmly pressed against her chest, where she'd been hit.

"Let me help," I said, moving to get my bag.

She shook her head, pushing my hand away. "There's no time. Lady Artemis needs help."

"Zoe, no!" I heard Artemis yell, and I saw Atlas lift his burly hand to backhand Zoe into the forest.

"No!" I shouted, instinctively throwing my hands up in the direction of the Titan.

Adrenaline surged through me again, giving me just enough power to freeze time for a split second. This gave Zoe enough time to back out of the way before I lost control, collapsing to my knees yet again.

Now I've done it, I told myself, unable to catch myself before I landed on my side, panting heavily. "Help…her," I said to Atalanta through unsteady breaths.

"What about you? I'm not going to leave you here to die."

"I'm…fine. Go, please."

She wasn't happy about leaving me by myself, but she darted next to Artemis, helping drive Atlas back towards the sky. I was able to watch as Atlas took back his burden, Percy rolling to the side like a log, groaning as he lay there for a few seconds, trying to regain his bearings.

"Kill them!" I heard some of the monsters roar. I guess Thalia had finally kicked Kyle off the cliff.

"Artemis!" Percy shouted.

I felt myself get scooped up into someone's arms and finally passed out.


	28. Chapter 28

"Don't give her anymore; she'll burn up," I heard someone say above me.

"Look, she's waking up!"

"That's impossible."

I groaned as I sat up, holding a hand against my head. I was sitting on asphalt, various different lines painted on it, like we had stopped on the side of the highway. It wasn't until I saw a couple of planes that I realized we were at Crissy Field.

I looked around, feeling the blood rush from my face as I saw Atalanta and Zoe laying motionless on the ground. Atalanta's face had been covered by her parka, her hands folded over her chest, hiding the wound she had sustained. As for Zoe, Artemis was standing over her, crying as her lieutenant was slowly dying from Ladon's poison.

"Woah, there," I heard Percy say. "Don't try to get up. You've been through a lot these past few days."

"I don't care," I muttered, forcing myself to sit up despite every muscle in my body screaming at me to lay back down. I got out my bag and rummaged through it, trying to find that pesky vial I'd gotten from Salina years ago. "I need to give this to Zoe."

"You're going to turn her into a tree?" Thalia asked, recognizing the vial in my hand.

"Wait, what?" Percy asked, staring at the vial. " _You_ were the one that turned Luke and Thalia into a pine tree?"

"Yes, but that's not important. And, no, this won't turn her into a tree. It's a cure to Ladon's poison."

Thalia's eyes widened in surprise. She took the vial from my hands and ran over to Artemis, letting the goddess force the medicine down Zoe's throat. I watched as Zoe's body convulsed, initially rejecting the medicine, before she relaxed, sitting up calmly and pressing a hand to her side, clearly surprised when her hand didn't come back stained red.

"But what about the prophecy?" Percy asked as Zoe, Artemis, and Thalia returned back to where I was still struggling to stay sitting. "I'm very happy that you're alive, Zoe, but who is the one who perished by a parent's hand?"

"Atalanta, I'm afraid," I said, gesturing to the fallen Huntress. "The man in the body armor had been her father."

"How do you know that?" Artemis asked, her eyes shining with unshed tears about the loss of one of her friends.

"I was the one that brought Atalanta to you, my lady. I found her on the streets, asked if she wanted to go to a safe place, and once she told me about her abusive mercenary father, I led her to you. After I knocked him out, his mask fell off, and I recognized him from a picture Atalanta had shown me."

"Thank you for telling us," Zoe said. "But for the love of gods, please pass out again. My Lady has told us about your strength and resilience, but you're still mortal. No one walks away from the sky without some token."

"Like that?" I asked, gesturing towards Percy.

"What happened?" he asked, patting himself down like he'd expected to grow an extra limb or something.

"Your hair!" Thalia gasped. "It has a gray streak now!"

"We can discuss this all in due time, I assure you," Artemis said, "but I must get going. The winter solstice meeting is about to begin, and I must be there. I'll send for transport."

Artemis hopped into her moon chariot, flicked the reins, and her dozen deer took off, leaving her as a silver blur in the night sky. Behind her, little pinpricks of light seemed to fall from the chariot. Once she was truly gone, I stared at the new stars in the sky, smiling sadly after I figured out what Artemis had done.

"Where did Atalanta's body go?" Thalia asked, gesturing where the fallen Huntress had been laid to rest.

"Up there, amongst the stars," Zoe said, pointing out the new Huntress constellation in the sky. "She's beautiful."

"Zoe," I said, my words beginning to slur together. "I think I'm gonna take you up on the offer. Good night."

"Quick, grab her head!"

I landed on Percy's jacket, passing out the moment my head touched the fabric.

* * *

From what Cleo told me, I was in and out of consciousness for three days before I managed to stay awake for longer than six hours at a time. She'd complained about all the stress fractures I'd sustained from holding the sky, but then she remembered that water could heal me, and she kept me inside a bathtub for four hours, refusing to let me out until all the fractures had healed.

"Some people would view this as torture," I pointed out, shivering as the water had lost its heat ages ago. I was still too weak to try my powers, so I opened the drain a little bit and turned on the hot water.

"Well, I could put you in a full body cast for six to eight weeks, which _you_ would view as torture," Cleo retorted, her pen furiously scribbling away at her paperwork that came with running the infirmary.

"Fine, I'll stay in the bath."

"Damn right."

I raised my eyebrows at her. "And since when did you curse?"

"Hey! I'm fifteen now, old enough to make my own choices."

"Uh, huh. Sure."

Cleo splashed me, knowing that I wouldn't be able to soak her head to toe like I normally would've. I settled with splashing her back, laughing as she complained about the wet spots on her papers.

"You know the second I release you, the gods want to see you, right?" Cleo asked, ending the levity of our conversation.

"I figured," I said, shrugging my shoulders. "By the way, what happened to Thalia? I haven't seen her around."

Cleo pursed her lips together, cautiously setting down her clipboard, like she was afraid to upset me. "Andy, Thalia joined the Hunters on the winter solstice, the day before her sixteenth birthday. Something about not wanting a prophecy to be hers."

"How did Luke take it?"

She visibly winced. "He's pretty shaken up about it. I mean, during the year, they dated. As far as I was aware, they were still dating even while Thalia left on the quest to save you and Artemis. To just turn to the Hunters like that without any kind of warning…" Cleo shook her head. "It's cruel, Andy. Luke's such a sweet boy, and he loved Thalia so much that he would move Heaven and Hell for her. He's devastated."

"I want to talk to him," I said.

"You're not allowed any visitors until after you speak with the gods," Cleo said solemnly.

I sighed and leaned further into the bathtub, the water at my chin. "Let me guess – Apollo's orders?"

"You know it. Sorry about that."

I waved off her apology. "It's fine. Just, keep an eye on him for me? I know I haven't been around him in a long time, but I don't want him to turn resentful and find refuge in my father. I don't want to lose Luke to his own anger."

"I promise, I'll watch out for him." As Cleo spoke, her face turned a bright red, like she couldn't believe I'd asked her to keep tabs on Luke. I watched as she fidgeted in her seat, her feet tapping to the tune of one of our campfire songs.

Now, to anyone else, this would've been brushed off as typical demigod ADHD behavior, but I've known Cleo for seven years, giving me more than enough time to pick up on her nervous ticks. She was displaying all of them at the moment, even averting her gaze from me, trying to get back to work.

"Oh, I see," I said, smirking deviously. "You like-"

"Shut up!" Cleo hissed, her face turning a darker shade of red. "My brothers will kill me if they find out!"

"Why?"

"Well, not kill me but give the whole older-brother speech. You know, the 'He-better-treat-you-right-or-I'm-going-to-gut-him-like-a-fish' speech?"

"Is it really that bad?"

"Let's just say, Michael and Lee have scared off every boy that Hannah and Paula have tried to date."

I burst out laughing, unable to picture the two eldest sons of Apollo scaring off sons of Ares, Athena, or Demeter, who they deemed unworthy of their sisters. Especially Lee Fletcher, who kind of looked like a weasel and stood at the intimidating height of 5'2".

Cleo rolled her eyes at me, smiling softly to herself as she did. After a few more minutes, Cleo had me get out of the bathtub and began palpitating my arms, her eyebrows furrowed in concentration. Her hands then moved to my back and my legs, applying pressure for a moment before moving on.

Before anyone worries about any type of nudity, let me be clear, I was wearing a bathing suit the whole time.

"Any pain if I press down harder?" Cleo asked, digging her index and middle fingers into my shoulder blades.

I gasped, biting back a wince as I felt pain lace through my shoulders. They definitely hadn't finished healing yet. Cleo seemed to sense this too, adding more hot water to the bathtub before ordering me to get back in.

"You know, I hadn't thought about the possibility of stress fractures while holding the sky," I told Cleo, rolling a strand of my hair between my fingers.

"Who would? You were trying not to die first."

"Touché."

It took another six hours before the fractures finally healed, which gave me enough time to finish the book I'd stopped reading because of the trip to Westover Hall. By the time Cleo had cleared me, the sun had begun to set, meaning I'd be going to Olympus at night, my favorite sight.

I changed into something more formal, feeling like it was appropriate to dress for the occasion. I wore a royal blue dress with a keyhole back and little white flowers embroidered along the hem and let my curls fall in waves down my back. But no way was I going to wear heels or flats, so I settled on my blue Converse, which still matched my outfit, meaning that Aphrodite wouldn't have a heart attack at the sight of my shoes.

"You look beautiful," Cleo said, tying off her braid. "Do you have a secret boyfriend on Olympus that I need to be worried about?"

I felt myself blush. "No, I'm not dating anyone. I don't have time for that."

"Such a shame," Cleo sighed, hopping up onto her seat. "Any man would be lucky to have you, Andy."

"The same goes for you. Don't let Michael and Lee discourage you, Cleo," I said. "And if you want to go after Luke, I wish you the best of luck."

Now it was Cleo's turn to blush. "Shush you. Now, off to Olympus you go."

* * *

All I'd been summoned for was to recount my version of what happened at Westover Hall and the fight that took place at Mt. Tam. Hades, who had been invited since this involved his children, glowered at the mention of the Manticore almost striking Bianca, gritting his teeth together like he wanted nothing more than to lock him up in the dungeon for the rest of eternity.

"Are we going to forego the fact that Andromeda survived the weight of the sky for five days?" asked Athena, her gray eyes whipped up into a storm as she thought. "Perseus barely survived five minutes, let alone five days."

The gods turned towards me and Artemis, waiting for an answer. I shrugged my shoulders, unsure of how I should answer. I didn't know how I'd survived for as long as I did, because I doubt willpower alone could've been enough.

"Well, she did pass out for four of the five days," Artemis mused, plucking the string of her bow absentmindedly.

"What are you thinking, sis?" Apollo asked, glancing up from his phone and blinding the rest of us with his smile.

"Don't call me sis! And I was thinking that perhaps Andromeda was dreaming while she was unconscious. Perhaps someone was protecting her."

I bit the inside of my lip, a million butterflies erupting in my stomach. I hadn't contacted Salina in years, but I wouldn't be able to continue living without knowing the truth. My curiosity would consume me alive.

 _Salina?_ I asked, my voice sounding like I was shouting into a void. _Salina, please, tell me what happened to me. Was it you or Kronos that kept me alive?_

I was met with silence.

I sighed, hoping that I didn't appear too disappointed to the Olympians. The last thing I needed was for them to ask me what was wrong.

"May we look into your memories, Andromeda?" Hera asked kindly, her face contorted into a worried yet semi-hopeful expression.

"Go for it," I agreed. "I have no idea what happened either."

Hera stepped down from her seat, and for the first time in seven years, I allowed someone access into my mind.

The image shimmered in front of us, revealing me underneath the swirling vortex where the sky yearned to meet the earth, Artemis crouching down beside me. Hera focused in on my body, pressing a finger against the side of my head in the image.

The light shifted, revealing a grandiose library. Every bookshelf was coated in gold, shining as brightly as if the metal had been polished that very day. There wasn't a speck of dust on any of the shelves or books, despite the fact that each bookshelf was easily thirty feet tall. If you wanted to get anything past the fifth shelf, you had to step on this huge wooden ladder, gold-rimmed wheels attached to the bottom for easy access.

Everywhere I looked, there were more bookshelves, like being stuck in the middle of a maze, except the walls were made of wood instead of hedges. But we followed a pathway forward, the bookshelves emptying out into a huge rotunda.

Above us, the glass dome glittered with the sunlight that filtered inward, casting a spotlight on the red-carpeted circle in the middle of the library. Within the circle were a few beanbag chairs and desks, some of which had computers resting on top.

There was a woman sitting behind one of the four computers, humming to herself while her fingers flew across her keyboard. I'd stopped for a moment, watching the woman cautiously, going so far as to summon Epithymia before stepping out from behind a bookshelf.

From the way I was walking, I could tell I had expected for this woman to attack or trap me, but the moment she stood up, I put Epithymia away. I'd know that blonde hair and those blue eyes anywhere – Salina.

A crown of purple tulips rested in her hair, vibrantly standing out against her cerulean blue eyes and fair skin. She was dressed in a white blouse and light blue jeans, appearing more like a teenage girl than a goddess. A genuine smile tugged at her lips, joy evident everywhere on her face.

"Well," she spoke softly, "aren't you going to give your mother a hug?"

"Mom!" I'd exclaimed, rushing forward and throwing my arms around her. She smelled of honeysuckle and cinnamon, letting me know she'd been reading in the conservatory. After realizing this was Salina's library, I recognized this place as her home.

"Sure, just forget about me," Mr. Jones grumbled, heaving a sigh of relief as he dropped several large books on top of a desk.

"Oh, hush, Taurus. You haven't said anything to Andy since the moment she's arrived," Salina chided.

"And you know my reason very well. For the love of Chaos, this is too much interaction as it is."

"I haven't heard from Mom in three years," I mentioned. Somehow, my subconscious knew not to say Salina's name. "I think this little conversation is harmless."

"You say that now. Wait until the Olympians sift through your mind like they always do," Taurus said bitterly. "I'll be in the observatory if you need me."

"What's _that_ supposed to mean?"

Salina sighed softly, shaking her head. "My husband has always had a flair for the dramatics. He would've made an excellent god of theater, but he is content with his constellations. Enough about him, though. Tell me what I've missed in the past seven years."

I told Salina everything, though whenever we were reaching a touchy topic, the audio would seem the cut out, no doubt the Fates' intervening. Eventually, I started going sketchy, my body fading in and out of existence in front of Salina.

She smiled at me sadly, caressing the side of my face in a very mother-like manner. "You're waking up, my dear. I'm afraid you won't remember any of this."

"Why?" I asked, my heart sinking into my stomach. "Please, I want to remember seeing you. It's been so long."

"Because if you do, my protection will wear off. You are strong, daughter, but sustaining the weight of the sky for as long as you have was a rash decision. Your bloodline has kept you alive up until now, where you should have died from overexertion.

"But the Fates prohibit your death for the time being, explaining why I came in. Andy, I'm so incredibly proud of you for standing up for your beliefs, but promise me, don't go to these kinds of extremes again. I've taught you how to get out of sticky situations, including a guard detail such as the one Atlas had prepared for you. Please, for all of our sakes, don't do that again."

"I promise," I told Salina, hugging her tightly until I felt myself starting to fade away. "I love you, Mom."

"I love you, too, daughter."

Then the image faded away completely, leaving the rest of us completely stunned. I didn't know what to say, my mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water. I could feel the stares of various gods on me, making me squirm where I stood. Gods, I hated being the center of attention.

"Andromeda, who was that?" Hades asked, speaking up for the first time since the meeting began.

"Yeah, and why'd you call her mom?" Apollo added.

 _Fates, tell me what to do! Please._

 _Tell them about Salina,_ Lachesis ordered.

 _But keep your mission a secret,_ Clotho said.

 _And do not reveal any information about your past life. As far as you're concerned, it never existed,_ Atropos finished.

 _Thank you, Lady Fates._

 _You're welcome, child._

"A couple months after running away from my abusive adoptive parents, I got into some trouble with the police. An officer caught me trying to steal a woman's wallet, but then the woman looked down and waved off the officer, claiming that I was her daughter, who knew better than to try to take her wallet. She held my hand and everything to make the lie more believable.

"She didn't ask any questions until we were by ourselves in a nearby park, where she asked me why I'd tried to steal from her. Once I told her my story, she offered me a place to say. A few days later, she told me the truth about gods and demigods, saying that she was a goddess."

"Which one?" Athena asked, a pen and notepad in her hand. "None of the goddesses I'm aware of would ever let someone get away with stealing from them, runaway or not."

I smiled ruefully. "No, I'm afraid not many have heard of my mother. She is minor amongst the minor goddesses. In fact, if it weren't for her domain being invoked so often, she would've faded eons ago."

"Who is she?" Poseidon asked.

"Is she a threat?" Zeus said in that overly paranoid way of his.

"No, Mom wouldn't hurt anyone unless the situation was dire. My mother is Salina, the goddess of wishes."

"You mean the fairy, the one who lost her wings and was doomed into being a willow tree after bearing her forbidden son?"

"That very one, Lord Zeus."

"Then how is she alive? If she was cursed to be a willow until the end of her days, how does she have a human form?"

I shrugged. "I never asked, and she never told me. Anyhow, she told me that I was a demigod and spent a year training me. For my fourteenth birthday, she gave me my enchanted bracelet and traveling bag. Then, I left in search of Camp Half-Blood, running into some friends along the way."

"So, _that's_ how you came across Luke, Thalia, Annabeth, and Grover," Hermes noted, raising an eyebrow at me.

"Yup."

"Why do you call Salina your mother?" Hera said, repeating Apollo's previous question. "Has she adopted you?"

"No, not in the sense that you're thinking of, anyways. Salina took care of me in one of my hardest times, becoming the mother I never had. That's why I call her Mom. I still have no idea who my birthmother was or how she managed to run across my father long enough to end up pregnant with me."

The gods all went silent at that. I guess they had never considered my birth mother before, and honestly, I really didn't care at this point. If I could live for twenty-three years (counting my previous life) without knowing anything about my birth mother, I think I'm fine with not having the answers for the rest of my life.

"Are we done here? I asked. "Because my friends are going to worry if I don't show up."

"You have friends?" Ares asked bluntly, causing for Hephaestus to whack him upside the head with a hammer that had been in his hand, knocking out the war god instantly.

I smiled at Hephaestus, who returned the gesture before returning to the bundle in his lap that he was working on.

"Yes, mortal ones from college. We planned to watch the lighting of the tree in the Rockefeller Center."

"Ooh, can we go?" Apollo asked excitedly, hopping up and down in his throne. "Please, Father?"

"You're embarrassing me," Artemis sighed, shaking her head in disgust at her brother.

Zeus rolled his eyes. "This meeting is adjourned. You're free to do what you wish."

"Yay!"

Waiting outside the throne room for me was Star, Blackjack's sister, who had decided to become my personal pegasus while Blackjack stayed with Percy. Her coat was pure white, a complete opposite when compared to her brother's coat.

I fished a sugar cube from my bag, feeding it to Star while I brushed her mane. Then I hopped onto her back, asking her nicely to take me to the Rockefeller Center to meet up with my friends.

 _Sure thing, Andy. Need me to wait up until you're done?_

"Nah, I'm good, but thanks for asking."

 _Don't mention it. I owe you for saving my life, after all._

"You don't owe me anything, Star."

 _Whatever you say, A._

Star leaped into the air, zooming down from Olympus, plunging to the ground below.


	29. Chapter 29

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 **Enjoy the chapter!**

* * *

The rest of winter break flew way too quickly for my liking, and soon enough, I was holding my thousand page chemistry textbook in my arms while Leah and I walked to our professor's classroom. Joe and Pete were already waiting for us by the door, devious smiles on their faces.

"You don't want to sit up in the front today," Pete told us as we walked into our classroom, the four of us making our way towards our seats.

"What did you guys do?" Leah asked suspiciously, counting eight rows back from the front before finding seats for the four of us.

"You'll see," Joe said, causing Pete to snicker.

I rolled my eyes at the both of them, setting my backpack between my legs and taking out my spiral notebook. I finished copying down the notes from the textbook while the rest of us waited for class to start.

As the bell rang signaling the start of class, Dr. Atomos ran in from the side door, his white hair sticking up like he'd stuck his finger in an electrical socket. Papers were flying out of his briefcase, and his tie had come undone, leaving it draped over his shoulders. His shoes were mismatched, and when he set his briefcase down, he accidently knocked over one of his beakers, causing for the glass to shatter against the floor.

"Are you all right, sir?" a girl up front asked, the boy next to her having walked down to the floor and started to clean up the glass with the dustpan and a broom.

"I'm having a bad day," Dr. Atomos said bitterly, his fingers flying as he tried to tame his hair and redo his tie.

"Wife threaten to leave again?" some boy behind us asked.

Our professor glared up at the offender. "Class, you may all thank Mr. Grayson for your homework assignment tonight. I want all the questions on pages 682 through 750 completed by tomorrow."

A cacophony of groans filled the room. Some people even waded up paper and chucked it at Wilbur Grayson, muttering curses under their breaths.

"Ugh, sixty-eight pages of homework," Pete said, his nose wrinkled in disgust. "And since there are about twenty questions per page that means…" he trailed off for a moment to do the math before saying, "1,360 questions?! He's joking!"

"That's going to take me forever to finish," Joe groaned, slamming his head repeatedly against his textbook.

"Note to self," Leah said, writing this down on the top of her paper. "Have Grayson on cleanup duty for next week's pep rally."

"You better splurge for that confetti cannon and the streamers," I said, flipping to page 682 and beginning to skim the questions. I exhaled through my nose, highly annoyed at the type of questions Dr. Atomos had assigned. Of course he punished us with the hardest chapter in the entire book.

"Definitely. I'm going to miss cheer practice because of him."

I paled. "Schist, I have a volleyball game tonight. Coach will kill me if I'm a no-show."

"Then you better get started," Joe said, scowling as he began working on the homework while Dr. Atomos continued setting up for today's lesson.

Finally, class started, and the four of us were forced to stop working on the massive homework assignment we'd just received. The sad thing is we haven't even got past question five; the math alone for some questions could take up an entire page, meaning this would be more time consuming than I originally thought.

Two and a half hours later, when Dr. Atomos began his demonstration of the most precise titration I'd ever witnessed, smoke began pouring from the doorways. Our professor was blissfully unaware of the smoke, continuing to talk about the equipment we'd need to measure the information as accurately as possible while scribbling down notes on his tablet, which were displayed via projector.

I heard Pete and Joe swear under their breaths, causing for Leah and me to glare at them.

"What did you two _do?"_ I asked, keeping my voice at a whisper yell. Despite being nearly seventy years old, Dr. Atomos had radar ears, able to pick up conversations as far away as the fifteenth row. As much as I detested my friends' pranks, I didn't want them getting in trouble, either.

Before either one of them could answer my question, the sound of something exploding echoing right outside the doors.

"Hit the deck!" someone shouted, and we all dove down, clutching our hands over our heads. Books and papers flew everywhere, causing the people that got hit to yelp in pain.

"We may or may not have set up fireworks outside the door," Pete said in one rushed breath. Leah pushed Joe down and punched Pete's arm, hard. I knew it was going to bruise later.

"Idiots," Leah hissed.

"How do we stop them?" I asked.

"Wait for the gunpowder to run out? Didn't really think of that." Joe shrugged, earning a jab in the ribs from Leah. "Jesus, Leah, stop being abusive!"

"I'll stop when you two end your stupid pranks! Someone could've gotten hurt!"

The three of them began to argue, but I stayed silent, trying to think of how to end the fireworks. Smoke was starting to billow up towards the ceiling, and I got an idea.

I grabbed all of our stuff and shoved it underneath our seats – hey, college textbooks are super freaking expensive – and waved a hand over it just in case. Sensing the heat in the smoke, I added some more, increasing the rate of it drifting towards the ceiling, right where the sprinklers were.

Sure enough, the moment the smoke reached one of the sprinklers, they all went off, dousing everyone and everything in the classroom with water. People screamed, clutching their stuff before running up the stairs towards the back exits. Gods, I hope Pete and Joe didn't plant any fireworks there.

But now that there was water in the air, I forced some of it to go underneath the door's crack, planning on dousing the fireworks. The tug in my gut didn't lessen until all the explosions ended. Once I was sure the fireworks were done blowing up, I closed my hand into a fist, turning off the sprinklers.

Dr. Atomos got up from underneath his desk, completely soaked from head to toe. At least his hair had been tamed. He began ranting in Polish, his accent coming back at full force as he swept his arms across his desk, tossing his ruined lesson plans and calendar to the floor.

"Class dismissed," he said angrily, his face a bright red and a vein bulging out of his forehead.

We all bolted out of the classroom, not wanting to be within a thousand feet of our chemistry professor's explosion. We'd all heard about his temper from former students and from his wife, whenever she'd drop by and visit, and no one wanted to ever experience it.

The four of us were completely soaked to the bone, shivering as we were greeted with a blast of icy wind. There were still six inches of snow covering the majority of the campus, and since we'd taken our coats off in class, they were dripping with sprinkler water.

Our books and backpacks had been spared after I tucked them under our seats, much to all of our relief. We could deal with being wet and cold as long as our school stuff was unharmed.

"Well, that was an eventful morning," Pete said cheerfully, ducking Leah's punch.

"No thanks to you! Jesus, what were you thinking?"

"And, Mama Bear mode has activated," I said under my breath, earning a chuckle and a fist bump from Joe.

Leah ranted about how stupid and dangerous their prank had been, her face slowly turning red then purple as she didn't take breaths between her sentences. She'd gotten herself so worked up that she didn't notice that she walked right past the entrance to the dorms until I called her back.

"We'll see you both in Dr. Kim's class," I said, waving goodbye at our friends as I held Leah back from clawing their eyes out.

"See ya, cool chicks!" Pete said, shooting the both of us a wink.

"God, I hate that name!" Leah screeched, the elevator door shutting prevented her from going to tackle Pete.

Leah typically isn't this angry or aggressive, but she absolutely adored Dr. Atomos and hated when the boys, or anyone else for that matter, would prank him. Bad enough he was already the laughing stock of the school for being the oldest teacher here, but his temper didn't help his reputation.

However, Leah and I knew that his anger came from sadness. For the past year, he's had to handle living with a wife who was recently diagnosed with Alzheimer's, and for some reason, the last thing she remembered was seeing Dr. Atomos kissing a girl that wasn't her. That girl had been his sister, who had died in a car accident fifteen years ago. And the kiss had been on her cheek. Now she hated him, claiming that he was cheating and that she wanted a divorce.

Now that we were away from the boys, Leah brought this up, sadness lacing her voice as we walked back to our room to change into dry clothes. I knew Alzheimer's was a particularly touchy subject for her after losing her grandpa to the disease. That's why she was so determined to be a neurosurgeon, wanting to find a treatment or even a cure for Alzheimer's.

"It's okay, Leah," I said, unlocking the door to our room. "No one was hurt, and I don't think the doors were damaged. Plus, everything can dry off."

Leah shook her head. "That's not why I was so upset. I hate the fact that people think they can take advantage of Dr. Atomos, including our friends. He's just trying to do his job, but the kids here are cruel, making it way harder on him than it needs to be. _That's_ why he ends up giving sixty-eight pages of homework."

"Speaking of which, we should get started on." I reached for my sweatshirt, pulling it over my head. "Bio doesn't start for another two hours, just enough time to knock out half the problems."

"You're right. Let's get to work."

* * *

Gods, I hate it when teachers turn out to be monsters.

I hate it even more when I actually liked the class.

Let me explain.

After Leah and I spent two hours in our dorm room working on our homework for so long that my brain hurt and my hand was cramping, we got our stuff for bio and headed out, meeting up with Joe and Pete along the way.

Leah had given the boys the cold shoulder, refusing to even look at them as we walked to the other side of campus. Snow had started to fall again, the flakes falling slowly to the ground, landing on the recently cleared sidewalk.

I knew something was wrong from the moment I stepped into the biology building. Despite the heater being on, there was a foreboding chill in the air that sent all my nerves into overdrive. My hand kept messing with my bracelet, catching my friends' attention.

"You okay, Andy?" Joe asked, cutting off his conversation with Pete.

"Yeah, you look like you saw a ghost," Pete agreed.

"I'm fine," I said, biting my lip.

"I call BS."

"Language," Leah chided.

"What, I didn't curse," Pete argued.

"Still. Not nice."

"I'm fine," I insisted, a fake smile easily resting on my lips. "I was just thinking."

"About Fredrick Adams?" Joe asked hopefully. I blushed and lightly smacked his arm.

"Gods, when will you stop trying to hook me up with people?" I asked, chuckling lightly. Ever since I met Joe, he made it his life's mission to get me a boyfriend before we graduated.

"When my matchmaking skills pay off! Until then, I'll keep searching. So, what do you think about John Freeman?"

I rolled my eyes, walking ahead and holding the door open to Dr. Kim's classroom. The biology classroom was basically identical to the chemistry one, except instead of famous chemists and element posters on the wall, there were famous biologists and diagrams of different living structures.

This time, class ran smoothly without any interruptions. Our teacher, Dr. Kim, was a perky red head with hazel eyes and a permanent smile on her face. Some days, I was annoyed by how happy she was. But she was still a pretty amazing teacher, helping us memorize incredibly complex things through acronyms or little catchphrases that you couldn't forget no matter how badly you wanted to.

But if she was as nice as I believed her to be, why was I so on edge?

Three hours later, we were dismissed, all of us thanking Dr. Kim for not giving us homework that night. The majority of this class also had Dr. Atomos in the morning, so I knew we all had a long night ahead of us.

Leah, Pete, Joe, and I had gotten up from our seats and turned to leave, but Dr. Kim said, "Andy, if I may have a word with you."

I was confused by the request but agreed anyways, telling my friends that I'd catch up with them in the cafeteria in a few minutes. I placed my textbook into my backpack and tightened the straps, that unnerving feeling still there, like someone was breathing down the back of my neck.

"Is everything all right, ma'am?" I asked, my hand tightly clamped around my bracelet.

Merely being in my teacher's presence was enough for my body to instinctively tense up, expecting an attack. I'd had one-on-one conversations with Dr. Kim before, so I had no idea why I was so on edge right now. But the little voice in the back of my head screamed, "Monster!" and I feared it was right.

"Unfortunately, thing aren't all right, Andromeda," Dr. Kim said, approaching me after stepping down from her podium, where she usually taught from. The sound of her heels against the floor echoed in the empty room. "You've caused too much damage lately, hurt too many people."

"I-I don't understand," I stuttered, slowly backing away from my teacher. I knew exactly what was going on now, but if feigning ignorance had the slightest chance of working, I was going to take it. "Who have I hurt?"

"Oh, don't be naïve, dear." As Dr. Kim kept walking, the sound of her heels transformed into sounding like misshapen feet, like a hoof then metal. "I mean that you've hurt my master."

"Mr. Randolph, the headmaster? I haven't hurt him."

She laughed dryly, her red hair tumbling out of the bun that it had been in. As she closed the distance between us, the ends of her hair began to sway like they'd caught fire. Then I realized that her hair _had_ caught fire, like she'd poured gasoline in her hair and then stood over a Bunsen burner.

"Kronos will rule the world, demigoddess. Whether you live or not all depends on where your loyalties lie," Dr. Kim cooed, her fingernails elongating into claws, though they were still the same shade of red that her nails had been painted. "I will give you one chance to give me the answer I seek. So, tell me, who will you follow?"

"For Olympus!" I declared, Epithymia appearing in a flash as I lunged forward.

"You ignorant, pathetic girl!" Dr. Kim shouted, moving out of the way of my blade. "You could have infinite power, live in a beautiful world where there is no suffering! Why fight for the gods when they have abandoned you?"

"Because they are my family," I said truthfully, rolling under Dr. Kim's wild slash, bringing Epithymia around to slash at her legs.

Like I expected, she jumped, and I had a shadow fling her against the wall. She rushed towards me again, surprisingly fast for having horribly misshapen legs, dragging her claws against my face. While she did that, I thrusted forward, feeling Epithymia cut into my teacher's abdomen.

"Curse you, daughter of Hades!" Dr. Kim wailed as she began disintegrating into gold dust. "Western Civilization and the Olympians shall fall, and there is nothing you can do about it!"

"I think I just did," I spat, bringing my sword downward again, piercing the _empousa's_ heart. She fell silent, a pile of gold dust taking her place.

I winced as I pressed a hand against my cheek, my fingers coming back tinged red. Thankfully, there was a sink on the lab table, so I turned on the tap and held my hand underneath the water, letting it stitch my skin back together.

Then, just as I was about to leave the classroom, I heard something hitting the supply closet door. I held Epithymia tightly in my hand, slowly turning the knob before throwing the door open, brandishing my sword as I prepared to defend myself.

I gasped when I saw Dr. Kim tied up and gagged in a plastic chair, various cuts and bruises littering every part of her skin. She even had a black eye and a broken nose, which was really swollen, making it hard for her to blink.

"Oh, gods," I muttered, gently taking the duct tape off her mouth before moving to cut the ropes that bound her wrists and ankles together. "What happened, Dr. Kim?"

"M-monster," she stammered, her face ashen. "Took my face. She locked me in here, hurt me."

"You're safe now," I said calmly, placing my hands on her shoulders and helping her control her breathing to prevent her from hyperventilating. "The monster is gone."

"Did you kill her with your sword?"

My eyes widened. "What sword?" I asked, positive that I had shrouded it in Mist.

"That one on your waist," she said, pointing it out. "How did security let that pass, anyways?"

"You're clear-sighted," I said, earning a confused look from my teacher. "I'll explain later, but first, let me take care of you."

I picked up my teacher and sat her on top of her lab table, where I'd have an easier time treating her wounds. I told her the truth about what had happened while I bandaged her up, making sure to keep things as simple as possible. Thankfully, she let me heal her nose with some water, which would deter questions from anyone tomorrow. Last thing I needed was to be accused of beating up my biology teacher.

"That makes sense now," Dr. Kim said, gently prodding her nose, gasping in surprise when she found that it didn't hurt. Luckily, healing her broken nose had done wonders for the black eye, making it fade to a yellow-brown instead of the dark blue it had been. "I've always seen monsters ever since I was a little girl, but everyone told me it was an overactive imagination."

"Yeah, unfortunately they're real and love to eat demigods. But you should be fine as long as you stay out of their way."

Dr. Kim raised her eyebrows at me. "I was just kept prisoner in my own classroom for the past day by a monster. I don't think that applies anymore."

I winced. "Sorry about that, but I think all the _empousa_ wanted was to send me a message. I guess she thought you were the best way to do it."

"Lovely." Dr. Kim hopped off the table, surprisingly steady for someone who had just been held hostage for the past couple of hours. "Thank you for the help, Andy. And I promise I'll never breathe a word about the gods, demigods, or monsters to anyone."

"You have no idea how thankful I am. But I'm afraid I need to go before my friends show up."

Dr. Kim gave me a weak smile. "Go ahead. My husband will be here shortly."

"Are you sure?"

"That's an order, Andy."

I smiled back at Dr. Kim. "Yes, ma'am."

I turned Epithymia back into a charm and left the classroom in search of my friends.

* * *

Of course, my day wasn't over yet, not even after I was in my pajamas and struggling to stay awake as I tried to finish my last page of chemistry homework.

Leah and I had been arguing about one of our answers, when the next thing I know is that I'm standing on the side of a road in a residential area I didn't recognize. The fact that it was easily eighty degrees let me know that I wasn't in New York, or the north in general, anymore.

"Uh, hello?" I asked aloud, turning around in a slow circle, trying to figure out what the heck was so important that my cover might've been blown.

All of a sudden, a barn owl landed on my shoulder, a scroll about the length of my index finger wrapped around its neck. I awkwardly reached for the ribbon on the owl, quickly untying it and grabbing the scroll before the owl flew away.

Okay, so this was definitely Athena's doing. I just wanted to know why.

I unfurled the scroll and read.

 _Andromeda,_

 _I'm sorry about the unfortunate timing of this mission, but I need your help. Two of my children have been kidnapped by human traffickers after learning of their intelligence and their father. They are being kept in the attic of house 4039 on the street I've left you on. Please bring my children to camp._

 _Oh, and one other thing._

 _Make those dishonorable, pig-headed men pay._

 _Warmly,_

 _Athena._

 _P.S. Your cover hasn't been blown. I have taken your place until you succeed. Bernard shall keep me updated on your progress._

Sure enough, perched on the lowest branch of the nearest tree was the same barn owl that had delivered the letter – Bernard.

I tucked the scroll into my bag before summoning my mortal daggers. I'd forged these myself a couple years back after Hades sent me out on an assassination for the first time and he learned that I didn't have any mortal weapons on me. The following day, he left me in the forges of his palace and told me to make myself a weapon lethal to mortals, thus these daggers were born.

It didn't take long to find the right house. I mean, come on. If you're trying to be inconspicuous, maybe don't spray paint the house number the same shade as the exterior walls when the houses on either side have their numbers clearly printed above the garage.

After surveying the exterior of the house, I figured that the quickest way in and out would be to shadow-travel and deal with the people inside as I confronted them. I looked up at what appeared to be a bathroom window and let the shadows deposit me in that room, stumbling as I landed inside a slick bathtub.

Great, I was in the master bathroom. I made sure that my steps made absolutely no noise as I walked out of the bathroom, pausing as I reached the doorframe.

"How much did they sell for?" a man shouted from downstairs.

"Half a million, boss. These kids are gonna make us rich!"

I scowled, walking pass the door and heading into the closet. It was void of clothes, which I'm sure would make the majority of the Aphrodite cabin very happy, but that also meant I was able to pick up on other sounds. Someone was hitting a wall, the distinct _thump_ of vibrating drywall becoming a noise I've learned to discern within seconds.

I looked up, smirking when I found a little door in the ceiling – the attic. I jumped up and tugged at the dangling rope, the door groaning as I pulled it downward.

"Hey, you hear that?" one of the goons asked.

"Go check it out."

I continued pulling the door down until I was able to see a dusty ladder jutting out from the edges. Then, I moved on to getting the ladder down but was interrupted when I heard, "Hold it, you!"

"No, _you_ hold it," I hissed, throwing my dagger right at the man's forehead. I heard it land in his skull, his body hitting the ground moments later. I bent down and retrieved my dagger, wiping the blood and brain matter on the guy's shirt before the ladder touched down on the ground.

I climbed up the ladder, taking two rungs at a time, finding myself in the middle of a dusty attic. Cobwebs were everywhere, as thick as the fake ones people would use to decorate their houses for Halloween. Two rats scurried past my foot, hiding inside of a cardboard box that they'd chewed a hole into.

"Hello?" I asked, cutting down the cobwebs with my daggers. If these kids were children of Athena, they must've been scared out of their wits being surrounded by so many spiders and cobwebs.

"Get out of there, girl!" another man shouted, shooting into the ceiling. I watched as he fired bullets through the opening of the attic, the empty shells clattering to the ground.

I carried on, running through the cobwebs until I found two little boys with their hands and feet tied together, the both of them huddled together and crying as a horde of spiders bit them, running up and down their bodies.

"Hi, there," I said gently. "I'm here to help."

"That's what they said," the boy on the right said, screaming as a spider crawled across his face, biting his chin.

"Then they took us, abused us, told us we needed to pay," the other boy said, tears streaming down his face.

"I promise, I won't hurt you. Your mom sent me to take you somewhere safe."

"Mom?" the two asked at the same time.

"Yes. I can get you away from these bad men, if you'll let me."

They shared a look before nodding in agreement. I cut them free, which allowed them to swat at the spiders that were covering them. I pulled out some Athena-grade spider-repellent (Safe on skin, tough on spiders™), spraying the ground around us and basically dousing the boys in the stuff. The spiders fled, their arms flailing as the repellent short-circuited their touch receptors, making them unable to move correctly.

"There! She has them!"

"Get down," I told the boys, twirling my daggers dangerously in my hands. "This is going to get ugly."

Two men, each of them holding guns, charged me, yelling as they kept pulling the trigger. I raised my eyes at them, my shadows smacking the bullets out of the air, causing them to imbed themselves within the roof. When I got close enough, I engaged in hand-to-hand combat with the men, except I had daggers in both hands.

Wherever I could, I let my daggers cut into their flesh, blood pouring from their wounds. The two men who had been sent to get me fell, their arms, abdomen, and thighs completely shredded like they'd gotten dragged against a really large cheese grater.

"Mercy," one of the men begged, holding his hands up in surrender.

"Did you give the children you steal mercy? Did you give them mercy when they begged you to stop, to take them home, to leave them alone? _Did you?!"_ Venom flooded my voice, anger pulsing in my veins.

"N-no…I'm sorry."

"Too little, too late." I then slit both of the men's throats, kicking their bodies down from the entrance to the attic, letting them bleed out for their friends to find them.

I sheathed my daggers and took the little boys' hands, shadow-traveling us to camp as a barrage of bullets made their way towards us.

Just another day in the life of Olympus' messenger girl.


	30. Chapter 30

Maintaining cover as a college student while also running errands for the gods during the school year was becoming increasingly difficult as the inevitable war with Kronos approached. From what Chiron told me, many campers were fleeing, afraid to fight against the Titan lord and his monstrous army. The lack of demigods made the gods increasingly concerned, so the second that they knew a child of theirs was of age, they would send me to go and bring them to camp.

I thought it was sickening, honestly, only paying attention to your children to train them to fight in a war that they weren't aware of. But I also knew if we didn't have the numbers, we were going to be crushed.

We needed at least fifty kids to fight, and as far as I'm aware, there are only ten year-rounders left, and I have no idea who will show up this summer. I started listing names in my head: Percy, Annabeth, Will, Cleo, Michael, Clarisse, Lee, Beckendorf, Luke… That wasn't good.

"Andy!" Pete shouted, chucking an eraser cap at my face, which harmlessly bounced off my forehead. I glared at him in annoyance, causing him to shrink in his seat. "Geez, sorry for interrupting your daydream, but if you don't help us, we're all doomed."

"You two are," Leah said, swiping at her iPad's screen, most likely going through old notes. "Andy and I will be fine."

"Because unlike you two, Joe and I try to live a little."

"Not helping," Joe hissed, elbowing Pete's ribs. "Please, Andy, we need your help."

I nodded, opening my own notebook and re-explaining the past two week's lessons, hoping that my wording would help them understand. I hated thermodynamics with a passion, but Dr. Atomos had deemed it a necessary evil for our next chapter, meaning we teamed up with Mr. Hutchins' physics class for two weeks, learning the basics.

Now our test was tomorrow, and of course, Pete and Joe had procrastinated going over the notes and homework, causing them to freak out. This led to our impromptu study session, which explains why the four of us were in the school's library at nine at night.

"You seem distracted, A," Leah said, looking up from her iPad, a frown on her lips. "Are you worried about tomorrow's test?"

"No," I answered, running an exasperated hand through my messy hair.

I've had to bring three different kids to camp in the span of two days while also balancing my crazy amounts of homework and lab time, meaning I was practically running on zero sleep. I'm sure that I've drank enough coffee at this point that it's replaced my blood.

And if there's anything I learned about my luck, I was going to be called out on another mission again pretty soon, possibly even tonight. Gods, I hope not. It's nice to save children and all, but I need to sleep before this test, or I'm going to make careless mistakes that will screw up my grade.

Sure enough, as I went to begin explaining the intricacies of the laws of thermodynamics, my phone went off. Don't worry, Hephaestus added a monster-proof chip, but sadly, I could only contact the Olympians and Chiron with the phone.

"Hello?" I asked, scowling at my phone. One night this week, that's all I wanted for myself. Was that so much to ask for?

"Andy, we've got a situation," I heard Dionysus say.

"Which is?"

"There is dark magic at camp, power I haven't felt since I was a demigod. Get over here immediately."

"Yes, sir." I groaned as I ended the call, leaning forward so that my forehead rested on the table.

"Everything okay?" Pete asked.

"Just peachy," I muttered, hastily shoving my stuff back into my backpack. "Keep my notes until tomorrow; I don't need them right now."

"Where are you going?" Leah demanded, crossing her arms over her chest. Gods, if I thought I was a mama bear, Leah was a hundred times worse.

"Family emergency."

"That's the fourth time this week!"

I shrugged, slinging my bag over my shoulder. "What can I say? My family is extremely problematic." Thunder rolled in the sky, and I rolled my eyes. Thank you for proving my point, Zeus.

"What about tomorrow's test?" Joe asked, worry clear as day on his face. "Dr. Atomos said he wasn't going to allow makeups – no exceptions. It's worth 200 points!"

"I'll make it back in time for the test, don't worry." I pushed in my chair, cringing at the way the legs screeched against the floor. "I've got to go."

I left the library, turned a corner where I knew there weren't any cameras, and walked into a shadow.

* * *

Camp Half-Blood was in a worse state than I last remembered it to be.

Half of the strawberry fields had wilted and died during the past winter, reflecting on Mr. D's sour mood as well as the low morale amongst the ten campers that still remained in the magical valley. Smoke constantly billowed from the forges, no doubt Beckendorf working his butt off to make weapons for the upcoming war. I think James had come back to help as well, but I wasn't a hundred percent sure on that.

The majority of the cabins were worse for wear, their paint peeling and cobwebs covering a lot of the doorframes. Except for the Athena cabin, of course. Even though Malcolm was the only Athena kid left, I seriously doubted he would ever let any type of spider web on his mother's cabin.

I frowned at the deafening silence in the camp, Hestia's hearth crackling like pop rocks being the only noise I could hear. Looking around at the rest of the cabins, I took survey of which ones had campers. Apollo, Hephaestus, Ares, Athena, Dionysus, and Aphrodite. Even the Hermes cabin, which was always close to bursting, had been completely emptied. I wondered where the Stoll brothers were, because they've never left camp as far as I knew, but I guess Chiron had sent them on a mission.

I found Mr. D lounging in his plush chair on the porch of the Big House, pinochle cards in his hand while Chiron sat across from him, tallying up the points on a napkin. There were two other wind spirits playing as well, but the moment Mr. D looked up at me, he waved his hands and the set of cards floated onto the tabletop. Chiron sighed, setting down his cards to reveal a winning hand he hadn't gotten to use.

"Chiron, Mr. D," I greeted, pulling my jacket tighter around me. Despite the fact that there wasn't any snow on the ground or gale force wind blowing the arctic air around, there was still a chill in the air, like something evil was lurking right around the corner.

"Andy, thank you for your swift arrival," Chiron said, beginning to get out of his wheelchair. "We have much to discuss."

"So I've been told." I spared a glance at Mr. D, who was absentmindedly drinking his Diet Coke, a scowl on his face like he wished to be anywhere else in the world.

"Mr. D?"

"Hmm, oh, yes." Mr. D placed his can of Diet Coke on the table, his dark brown eyes more sober than I've ever seen before. I mean, it's not like I've ever seen the god of wine drunk, but this time there was genuine emotion: fear, anticipation, and a myriad of other things I knew he'd never admit to feeling. "I'll show you the area of suspicion."

I raised my eyebrows, biting back a sarcastic remark. For Mr. D to be willing to take a camper anywhere meant that this was way more serious than I initially thought. Mr. D never did anything himself, always using a satyr to run his messages, so I kept my mouth shut and followed him into the forest.

Chiron walked alongside us as well, filling the silence with stories about some of the most famous heroes' blunders. For example, did you know that Jason was afraid of the dark? So when one of his Argonaut crewmates accidently blew out the candle in his room and he woke up, Jason began to cry and rock back and forth in his bed.

I'll admit, the stories made me smile and helped distract me from the fact that camp was in danger, yet again. You'd think from how necessary heroes are to keeping the gods alive that the security would be better, but no-o-o-o.

Mr. D stopped in front of a pile of rocks that looked like a deer had just taken a dump in the middle of the woods. But I knew better than to voice those thoughts out loud, especially since the pile of rocks was also known as Zeus's Fist.

"Here," Mr. D said, gesturing to the pile of rocks. "Tell me what's going on."

My heart hammered in my chest as I walked forward. I knew that an entrance to the Labyrinth would appear here once Quintus (a.k.a. Daedalus) arrived, but as of now, I didn't know if the Labyrinth posed any danger for the time being.

I climbed up Zeus's Fist, reaching into all the crevices between the rocks. There was never a hold deeper than a few inches, meaning that the Labyrinth hadn't shifted into camp yet. I searched the rocks one more time for a blue delta, the sign of Daedalus, but that hadn't appeared either.

"I-I don't know, Mr. D," I answered truthfully.

While I was on the rock, I could sense the earth shifting below it, the same way tectonic plates shifted to create new land. Except this shift was much faster and harsher, like an incoming earthquake versus the few centimeters that tectonic plates every year. And that didn't make any sense, because the closest fault line to Long Island was located in Pennsylvania, and even then, the earthquakes produced were always weak.

"Anything you can tell us will be helpful," Chiron said, hoping to placate Mr. D's anger before he turn me into a bottlenose dolphin.

"There's this shaking in the earth below Zeus's Fist," I said, struggling to put into words how I somehow just knew about the ground shifting. It was all so sudden – one moment there would be a tunnel that I could sense, and the next moment, it vanished. "Earthen tunnels are constantly being built and destroyed, but other than that, I can't sense anything else."

"Lord Hades wouldn't happen to be behind this, would he?"

I shook my head, biting my lip. "He wouldn't risk a war against the Olympians in a time like this. I'll consult with him when I can, but I don't think he has anything to do with these tunnels."

"What about Deborah's maze?" Mr. D asked.

"Daedalus' Labyrinth?" I clarified.

"That's what I said! But, yes, _that_ miserable place."

Chiron and I shared a look. "It's possible, Mr. D," Chiron began, scratching at his beard pensively. "But the Labyrinth was destroyed ages ago. Unless it has managed to thrive on its own…"

"I'll ask around," I promised. "In the meantime, you should get someone to start researching the Labyrinth. We'll need to understand it if it becomes a later threat."

"Who do you suppose should be on this 'research team?'" Mr. D said mockingly, adding air quotes around the words research team.

"Annabeth and Clarisse."

"That seems doomed from the start."

I ignored Mr. D's cynical input.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't Daedalus a son of Athena? If he's truly the cleverest inventor that's ever walked the earth, only his siblings will be able to decode his secrets. And Annabeth adores the guy; she'd be perfect. Clarisse would be the brawns of the research, thinking of how best to shut down the Labyrinth, or if necessary, how to survive traveling through it."

"All of this is based on the pretense that the Labyrinth still exists?" Chiron asked.

"Yup."

"Just clarifying. Very well, I shall send an Iris-message to Annabeth and get her and Clarisse debriefed right away." Chiron turned to the camp director. "Anything you'd like to add, Mr. D?"

"You're both crazy," Mr. D said blatantly before disappearing in a _pop,_ leaving behind the scent of freshly pressed grapes.

I shrugged, zipping up my jacket as the wind started to pick up within the forest. "He was the one who asked me to come. Sorry I couldn't come up with a better answer."

"No, no, you've done more than enough, my dear," Chiron said warmly, trying for a smile that turned out to be a grimace.

New wrinkles littered his face, especially by his eyes and mouth, meaning that he'd been frowning more often rather than smiling. The glint and mirth that the old centaur usually had in his eyes was hidden behind a layer of exhaustion and worry, most likely relating to the well-being of camp and its campers.

"IM me after Annabeth, please. I want to be kept in the loop about this."

Chiron paused to think for a moment before saying, "Yes, I think you should be a part of this research project as well. Maybe consider visiting on the weekends, eh? For training purposes, of course."

"Of course," I agreed immediately, sensing Chiron's ulterior motives. Normally, I would've been annoyed by the way he asked if it had been anyone else, but this was Chiron. I knew he had every demigod's best interests at heart, so if it meant lying to my friends, it'd be worth it in the end.

I then told Chiron that I had to get going before Leah tore up New York to find me, earning a slight chuckle from him. I waved goodbye as I fell into my own shadow, landing directly in my own bed. Good thing, too, or else I would've passed out from exhaustion.

I grunted as I shoved my books and notes aside, pulling the covers up to my neck as I kicked off my shoes. I was so tired that I didn't care about the fact that my boots were under my covers, simply allowing for my eyes to close the second my head hit the pillow.

* * *

That night I dreamt of the Labyrinth.

I was standing on a balcony in the royal palace of Crete, overlooking the massive maze that King Minos had ordered to be built as a place for fourteen Athenian youths to be sacrificed. From the way I was dressed in silken robes, new leather sandals, and gold ribbons, I knew I was witnessing these events from the eyes of Princess Ariadne, the daughter of Minos.

From my balcony, I had a perfect view into the maze, watching as the fearsome Minotaur roared and growled in the center of the maze, impatiently waiting for his victims to find him. The cargo ship that had brought the fourteen children arrived three days ago, and seven of them had already died.

I looked away as a girl who appeared to be my age, about sixteen, stumbled into the center of the maze, where the Minotaur was waiting. She froze dead in her tracks, staring up at the horrible monster that stood before her. She screamed in fright, and I averted my eyes, not wanting to watch the Minotaur rip somebody else to shreds.

I drew the doors and curtains of my balcony shut, immersing my room in darkness. Even then, I could still hear the screams of that poor girl as she was brutally murdered by Minos' prized champion.

Outside of my room stood two guards, who were clearly nervous as I walked outside, their bodies shaking so badly that their armor sounded. I don't think they were afraid of me so much as they were of Minos, thinking that if they upset the princess, they'll find themselves tossed into the maze. Which, if I remembered the story correctly, was exactly what Minos did to anyone on the island of Crete that disobeyed him.

"Take me to the inventor," I asked one of the guards, my voice higher and more refined, tinged with a Mediterranean accent.

"Right this way, princess," one of the guards said, bowing his head in respect before gesturing for me to follow him. The other guard trailed behind me, about as subtle as someone wearing blaring sirens and flashing lights in the middle of the night.

After being led through many windy passageways, the guard stopped outside a large wooden door. The stones around the door were thick with rot; mold coated the door as if it'd never been cleaned since the day of its instillation. The doorknob was covered in rust, which meant that the guard opened the door for me even though I genuinely didn't care.

"Her Royal Highness, Princess Ariadne," the guard announced as I stepped inside, causing me to cringe. Something told me Ariadne hadn't wanted this meeting to be announced to everyone.

"You're both dismissed," I said curtly, turning on my heel and walking further into the castle's forges.

I found Daedalus hunched over a metal worktable, various scrolls stretched out as far as the eye could see, held down by various different tools. He was muttering to himself under his breath, his quill never ceasing to move as he continued adding notes onto one of his blueprints.

Deciding not to disrupt his creative process, I pulled up a stool and sat opposite of him, waiting for him to notice my presence. Eventually, Daedalus seemed satisfied with his new design for the time being, finally setting down his quill at last.

He jumped slightly at the sight of me before quickly regaining his composure, bowing deeply. "Your highness," he said respectfully, remaining in his bow despite the fact that that couldn't have felt good for his back, considering his age. "Please, forgive me for my obliviousness."

"You may rise, Daedalus, for you are not at fault," I replied kindly, giving the old inventor a warm smile.

He straightened, his back popping loudly as he did, causing me to wince at the sound. "How may I be of service today, princess?"

"I want to put an end to the maze. No more Athenian children need to be sacrificed for my father's ludicrous beliefs."

Daedalus paled, turning whiter than the blank scrolls he had on the floor next to him. "Princess, I would love to help you, but King Minos knows I created the maze for him. He knows that I am the only one that would be able to solve its mysteries and keep the children away from that dreadful Minotaur. My involvement would be discovered immediately."

"Perhaps not," I said, smirking mischievously. "Tell me what would be necessary to escape the maze. You need not invent it, I just need to know what I will need."

"What are you thinking about?" Daedalus asked, genuinely curious. That was his inventor's side showing itself, willing to think outside the box even though the punishment might be severe.

"If the object I require can masquerade as a household object, something completely harmless, it will not raise suspicion. Also, as princess there are certain things I'm expected to know, like weaving and braiding."

Daedalus returned my devious smirk. "I think I have just the thing, Princess Ariadne." He turned around and began searching through all the scrolls he had stored in the wall, his eyes reading a few words before moving onto the next scroll. "Aha! There it is!"

He grabbed a scroll and walked over to an empty workbench, unfurling the yellow-stained paper. He set some candles on each of the corners to illuminate the plans as well as hold them down.

"It's a rope?" I asked, hoping that I'd hidden the disappointment in my voice.

"Not any ordinary rope," the old inventor said, waggling a knowing finger at me, like I should've known better than to just assume that he would hold blueprints for something as trivial as rope in his forges. "An enchanted rope. One that will lead you safely through the maze. Of course, you wouldn't need this rope. Others would, though."

"What do you mean by that?"

"You're a special girl, princess, blessed with a gift from the gods that few have. Your gift grants you safe passage through the maze, but if you desire this rope, I shall tell you what you need."

"Please," I pleaded with Daedalus, not having any idea in the slightest about what my gift could be. By that, I meant Ariadne didn't know. I knew he was referring to the princess being clear-sighted.

He went ahead and told me of the materials I needed to collect to make the enchanted rope. Then, when I heard the guards announce my father, I threw the scroll to the floor, letting it roll beside the others, hiding our plans in plain sight.

"Ariadne, what have I told you about being with the inventor by yourself?" King Minos asked in exasperation, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"To have a guard with me at all times."

"And where is your guard?"

"I told him to leave, so don't you dare punish either one of them. They were following my orders."

Minos sighed again, wiping a hand across his face. "You and I will have a long conversation about your decision, young lady. But right now, I must speak to Daedalus in private."

I curtseyed respectfully, swallowing back my disgust. "Yes, Father." Luckily for both Daedalus and Ariadne, it seemed as if the princess had eidetic memory, so the second I was back in my room, I wrote down all the materials on a sheet of paper and tucked it under my mattress.

Before anything else could happen in my dream, my alarm blared, causing me to jolt up in my bed. I slammed my hand down on my clock, debating whether I wanted to throw the thing at the wall or not.

Leah grumbled and rolled over, pulling her pillow down over her head. "I don't wanna go," she whined, snuggling deeper under the covers.

"Neither do I," I said, throwing off my covers and peeling off last night's clothes in favor of something more comfortable. Sweatpants and a baggy t-shirt it is. I tugged on my winter coat and began lacing up my boots as Leah finally got out of bed. By that, I mean she rolled over until half her body was hanging off the bed until gravity took over and she completely fell to the floor, still wrapped up in her blanket cocoon.

"Come on," I said, bending down to give Leah a hand up. "We don't want to be late for our thermodynamics test, do we?"

"You're far too cheery for someone who had to ditch our study session," Leah muttered, hastily pulling on a pair of jeans and a green polo shirt, buttoning up her gray winter coat over her clothes. She laced up her black boots, grabbed a hair tie and her backpack, and the two of us were out the door, heading to meet up with Joe and Pete for breakfast.

I laughed as Leah continued to complain about our stupid alarm clock. She swore that one of these days, she was going to take a hammer to the face, smashing the glass to smithereens.

"Uh, I think it'll still sound if you only break the face," I pointed out.

"Not when I'm done with it," Leah said deviously, rubbing her hands together sinisterly. I decided to drop the subject.

I still couldn't get over the fact how weird my life was. It was surprisingly easy to play the part of a college student with very close friends, but it was getting harder to hide my demigod life from them. But I promised myself I wouldn't ever tell them if I could avoid it. There was no need to bring any of them into the craziness that is the godly world if they can stay out of it.

For now, I'd enjoy my mornings like this – having a chance to eat breakfast with my friends while freaking out over upcoming tests and assignments. I just wished I knew how little time I had left before things went completely bat guano crazy.


	31. Chapter 31

Summer was quickly approaching, which filled me with a mixture of relief and anxiety.

Chiron had called me a few weeks back, informing me that he was going to begin the summer session a little earlier than normal to get as many campers back to training as soon as possible. I agreed with him, promising that I'd come back as a trainer as soon as classes were out for the year.

Needless to say, as my life got more complicated with my demigod life, my friends noticed that I was pulling away. I could tell that they had gotten suspicious sometime around spring break, when I turned down a chance to spend a week in Rome in favor of staying on campus.

"Seriously, Andy?" Leah had asked, setting down the large almanac she was reading. "You'd rather stay here than visit Rome, you know, the place you've been dying to see for ages?"

"I'm too busy to go overseas at the moment," I had said evasively, never looking up from the new book I'd recently gotten.

"Doing what?" Joe had asked.

"Working in the lab."

"Let someone else take care of it," Pete had insisted. "Plus, the semester's almost over. Dr. A can't take up your free time and fail you because of it."

"Actually, he can, and he will," I said, placing a bookmark between the pages I'd left off on and tucking it away into my bag. "I've got to go."

I knew I had hurt them by not answering their questions, but they were prying into my life and worrying about me. That made the three of them some of the best friends I've ever had the pleasure of knowing, but right now, I really wished they would keep their distance.

The day that our finals and semester exams ended, I packed up my half of the room and left a note on my bed, explaining why I'd left so suddenly. Slinging my two duffel bags over my shoulders, I vanished into a shadow, landing inside cabin three back at Camp Half-Blood.

I sighed at the sight of the desolate cabin. A fine layer of dust covered all the beds and nightstands; Percy's bed was still messy from the time he'd spent here last December. I threw away some of the candy wrappers I found on the floor, promising myself that I'd clean up the rest later.

Before I left the cabin, I put on my armor, something I hadn't done in a year. Sure, I had managed to find time to train during the school year, but bringing armor was too much to keep hidden, so I trained without it.

I pulled my hair back into a messy bun and headed for the arena, where I was to train campers in swordsmanship for the foreseeable future. Luckily for me, the first class wouldn't start for another half hour, giving me more than enough time to warm up by myself.

While I hacked away at dummies, I kept track of the ground beneath my feet. Back at school, I'd been investigating on the Labyrinth, trying to find other entrances than the ones I already knew about but was unsuccessful in my inquiries. But I was certain about the fact that I shouldn't feel the earth moving like the world's largest snake, slithering side to side through miles of hard-packed dirt.

Now that I was back at camp, the feeling was much stronger, more like a beating heart rather than a slithering serpent. It was distracting, to say the least, and I had to consciously keep myself upright. No one else was affected like I was, but I guess that had something to do with my control over the earth. Not like Gaea, but more in the sense of the limited control that Hades, Demeter, and Poseidon had.

Training was a little…no, it was a massive train wreck. With so many new campers, many of whom had never held something more deadly than a steak knife in their lives, it was a pain to teach them the basics. One kid almost ended up stabbing himself in the chest, because he didn't know the difference between his blade and his hilt.

But after two hours of my patience being tested by eight preteens, some progress was made. At least they could spar against each other for more than fifteen seconds before dropping their swords and complaining that they were tired.

Thankfully for me, my next class contained the older, more advanced campers. That meant less explaining and more sparring, which was much more fun in my opinion. I was currently teaching them how to fight against multiple enemies at once but was interrupted by a screaming dryad.

We all turned towards the dryad, who had disappeared in a cloud of maple leaves, trying to see what had caused her to return to her tree in fright. At the other end of the arena was a hellhound the size of a tank, seeming extremely comfortable to roll around on the floor, kicking up a thick cloud of dust.

"A hellhound!" a daughter of Demeter exclaimed, readying the grip on her sword.

"How'd it get inside the borders?" a son of Hephaestus asked.

"Don't know, but we're putting it down, _now,_ " Mark, a son of Ares, said with conviction, confidently striding over to the huge hellhound with his sword out in front of him. Honestly, his sword seemed like something the hellhound could use for a toothpick, but I wasn't going to dash his hopes.

The rest of us followed behind Mark, our swords drawn and prepared to take down this hellhound. At the sound of our footsteps, the hellhound sat up on its haunches, its large tail wagging back and forth in excitement.

"Wait," I told the others, holding out a hand to stop them from getting any closer. "I think it just wants to play."

"Are you crazy?" Mark said. "There is no such thing as a friendly hellhound."

"Rick, toss me that shield, would you?" I asked, grunting as I caught the large bronze disc, something that weighed thirty pounds, easily. Then, I swung my arms back and tossed the bronze shield like an overgrown Frisbee, the hellhound barking happily as it bounded after the shield.

"Ah, I see you've met Mrs. O'Leary," a new voice said. We all whirled around, the tips of our blades trapping the man inside a circle of swords. He held up his hands in surrender, a serene smile resting on his face.

"Who are you?" I demanded, taking a step forward and resting the tip of my sword on his unprotected chest. It wasn't going to hurt him if he didn't move.

"My, my, you're a fighter, aren't you?" He pushed my sword aside, but I put it right back in its place, glaring daggers at the man. "I am Quintus, children, hired by Chiron to be the new sword instructor."

"I thought Andy was the new sword instructor," a daughter of Hermes asked, confusion clear on her face.

"So did I," I said with a frown, pulling my sword away from his chest. "I'll go clear up the matter with Chiron. In the meantime, I want you to train with Quintus."

"But we don't even know him!" Mark complained, but a look from me, and he quickly shut up.

"If Chiron hired him, he must be qualified." I sheathed my sword and began loosening the straps on my armor. "Obey Quintus as if I were teaching you, or else I'll have you do endurance training until you can't feel your arms. Am I clear?"

"Yes, Andy," the four campers chorused, shooting wary glances at Mrs. O'Leary as she tore the head off one of the training dummies and began chomping down on it. Quintus brushed off their concerned expressions and began his lesson.

Meanwhile, I headed towards the archery range, narrowly being hit in the shoulder by a stray arrow. I raised my eyebrows at the kid who'd shot the arrow, her face bright red as she apologized repeatedly. I handed her back her arrow, giving her a few pointers on her stance before walking further down the range, where Chiron was helping another camper restring their bow.

Chiron finished tying off the last knot before returning the bow to its owner, a strained smile on his face. He didn't even bat an eye as an arrow landed in his tail, calmly pulling it out and saying, "Brianna, I think this is yours."

"Sorry, Chiron!" the little girl who'd almost shot my shoulder exclaimed, running to pick up her arrow before returning to her target. Geez, I thought only Percy could be that bad at archery.

"It's great to see you again, my dear," Chiron told me, walking in the direction of the strawberry fields, calling out critiques and tips until the archery range was out of sight. "I fear we're preparing for the worst this summer."

"You're telling me," I scoffed, watching as two Hermes kids carried a canoe over their head, sprinting towards the lake. Behind them came a pair of Aphrodite girls, yelling obscenities in Ancient Greek as they clutched their paintball-splattered clothing.

"How has our, ah, project been coming along?"

I gave Chiron a sideways glance. "You really want to talk about that out here in the open and without the others?"

"Clarisse is out on a mission, and Annabeth left to spend the day with Percy. So, yes, we'll speak about this right here and now."

I sighed but conceded anyways, telling Chiron everything I'd learned over the course of the past few months. From what I knew, the Labyrinth was still very much alive, thriving like a second skin below the surface, constantly adapting and expanding like a parasitic virus. All entrances leading in and out were marked with delta's that would glow blue when activated by a demigod. And most important of all, time loses its meaning inside the endless maze.

"Then you must not ever enter the Labyrinth should you come across it," Chiron said, his voice deadly serious as he turned to face me, clamping his hands down on my shoulders. "For a child of time, there is no telling the adverse effects you may experience."

"But I've been fine in the Lotus Hotel," I protested. "Time is frozen there as well. You think you're only there an hour, and in reality, three days have passed."

"Yes, but the Labyrinth is something far older and something far more malicious. According to legend, the maze could drive those lost within to complete and utter madness, almost as severe as if Mr. D himself had cursed someone. You may be hurt, something I won't allow."

"I'm twenty-two, Chiron. I think I can handle myself in the Labyrinth if something were to happen."

"No. Stay out of the Labyrinth, Andromeda. Do not argue with me anymore about this."

"No promises," I muttered, causing for Chiron to wince at the bitterness in my voice.

I absolutely adore Chiron, but when he made decisions like that for me, well, let's just say these were the times I wish he wouldn't go overprotective brother mode on me. While I knew that no amount of research could ever prepare me for going into the Labyrinth, I knew exactly how to navigate it, something that would be invaluable for Annabeth's upcoming quest.

"I'm going to the forges," I told Chiron, not giving him a chance to reply before I stormed off, slamming my fist against a tetherball as I passed by it.

Beckendorf, James, Harley, and Nyssa didn't think anything of it when I walked into the forges, tossed on a lead apron, and picked up some Celestial bronze ore and a molding cast. The least I could do was help the Hephaestus kids make some new weapons for the inevitable battle.

Kronos was so close to rising. It was only a matter of weeks before he'd challenge us by sending his armies right into the heart of Camp Half-Blood. I cringed silently to myself as I began going through the list of names of demigods who were destined to die that day.

Lee Fletcher, Castor Brown, Fiona Kingston, Aaron Butters, Nicole Reyes…there was one more name, one that I dreaded to even think about. I'd gotten the nightmare last week, watching my friend be stabbed through the chest, her eyes wide with shock as she crumpled to the ground, blood pouring from her mouth. She was dead before she hit the floor.

No, I wouldn't, couldn't, think about it anymore, not if I was going to be strong enough to be useful for the next couple of weeks.

I stuck the excavated Celestial bronze into the furnace, glad that the intensity of the heat had made me sweat, hiding the few tears that had streaked down my face. One of my oldest friends was doomed to die, and I couldn't do a damn thing about it, ironic as it may seem.

Gods, the Fates were truly cruel.

* * *

After I finished making two swords in the forges, I went to clean up my cabin before inspections began. I swore under my breath as I saw Silena Beauregard making her rounds, the inspection scroll in her hand as she walked into cabin six.

When I walked into cabin three, I'd been prepared to clean everything up myself, but instead I found Tyson sweeping the floor, Percy staring at his half-brother like he had saved him from certain death, which had already happened on multiple occasions during our quest in the Sea of Monsters.

All the dust had been cleaned, and the floor had been swept. A vase of sea anemones and strange glowing plants from the bottom of the ocean graced our windowsill. The saltwater spring in the corner of the room had been polished, glistening in the sunlight like a diamond. Tyson had also hung up a herd of miniature hippocampi from the ceiling, and when the breeze blew in from the window, the mobile would spin, making the hippocampi appear like they were swimming in midair.

"Wow," I said, the hippocampi chiming as I brushed my fingertips against the intricately sculpted bronze. "These are beautiful, Tyson."

"Yay, Andy likes them!" he exclaimed happily before proceeding to give me a hug. I laughed as I felt him crack my back, Percy reminding him that I kinda needed to breathe after he began to squeeze tighter.

Then the door opened, announcing Silena's presence. She walked in, did a quick twirl, and raised her eyebrows at Percy. "Well, I had my doubts. You clean up nicely, Percy. I'll remember that." She checked something off on the scroll and exited, causing for Percy to sigh in relief, slumping against the nearest bunk bed.

"Thanks, Tyson," Percy said, his hand trailing over the watch that Tyson had given him last year. "You just saved us from dish duty."

Tyson blushed bright red, pulling off his rubber gloves and untying his flower apron from around his waist. "Anything for my brother," he said kindly, his eye lit up in joy.

"You two go catch up," I said. "I'm going to hit the showers then take a nap."

"Lots of training?" Percy asked.

"Worse, sleep deprivation. School sucks."

Percy cringed, understanding exactly what I meant. He and Tyson left, leaving me by myself in the freshly cleaned cabin.

I rummaged through my bags before pulling out some nylon shorts and a camp shirt, setting them on top of my bunk as I zipped up my bag. Before I headed for a shower, though, I had to do something first.

I pulled out a drachma and flicked my hand in the direction of the saltwater in the spring. As the mist sprayed upward, a rainbow formed when the droplets came in contact with the sunlight. "O, Iris, Goddess of the Rainbow, show me Bianca di Angelo with the Hunters of Artemis."

* * *

You know, I didn't think it was possible to have demigod dreams within an hour long nap, but I was clearly proven wrong when I found myself back on the island of Crete, standing next to a teenage boy with curly black hair and green eyes. I almost called him Percy, but I knew this was thousands of years before our time, and the seashell clasp on his cloak and his armor gave me his identity.

Standing next to me was none other than Theseus, son of Poseidon, slayer of the Minotaur, and future king of Athens.

"Princess, how is something as simple as a string supposed to help me navigate the maze?" Theseus asked, glancing skeptically at the ball of string that I was trying to give him.

"It's enchanted, created from strands of hair from Poseidon's sacred bull and powder from some magical flowers that grow in the palace gardens. The inventor gave me his word that the string is infallible."

"The inventor?" Theseus scrunched his eyebrows together in confusion. "You mean the monster that created the Labyrinth?"

I shook my head vehemently. "Daedalus is no monster. He was simply following my father's orders to keep his son safe. Please, take the string, Theseus. Defeat the Minotaur and end this terrible tradition."

Theseus hesitated. "What's the catch?"

"Take me with you," I begged. "My father will find out the truth, and when he does, he'll have me executed as a traitor. I have no intention to die on this cursed island, so if I aid you in the Labyrinth, I want safe passage back to Athens with you and the rest of the survivors. Do we have a deal?"

"We do." Theseus stretched out his hand, and I firmly grasped it, the two of us exchanging a handshake that sealed his promise to me.

I handed over the rope and bid Theseus farewell, lifting my hood back over my head before darting back into the palace. I was breaking every rule under my father's roof by consorting with Theseus, who had come in disguise as one of the seven male tributes to be sacrificed to the Minotaur in retribution of my brother's death. He was the heir to the throne of Athens, and if Father found out, he'd have the both of us executed.

Seems like he got his paranoia directly from his father, Zeus.

Three days later, and it was time for the fourteen tributes to be set loose into the Labyrinth. As dictated by my father, as his youngest daughter, I was the one to lead the seven boys to the entrance of the maze while one of my brothers, Catreus, led the seven girls to the entrance on the other side of the maze. Something about gracing them with pretty faces before meeting their certain deaths, at least, that's how Minos reconciled it as.

I wished them all the best of luck, watching as the boys began entering the maze one by one. Theseus was the last to enter, tying off the end of the rope before going in, the large mechanical door shutting behind him.

I picked up some rocks from the ground and hid the knot to the best of my abilities, brushing my hands clean of the dirt as two guards took their posts outside the door. A few years back, one of the tributes had tried to climb over the door to escape the maze, but when he died when he fell. After that, Father placed guards outside the doors to ensure that that didn't happen again.

After a painfully long week, I returned to the Labyrinth only to find that the two guards outside the door had been knocked out and tied up to a tree. Looming over the guards was none other than Theseus, a lopsided smile gracing his face as he casually twirled his forbidden sword around.

"You did it!" I exclaimed, rushing forward and hugging the demigod, careful to avoid running myself through.

"Did you ever doubt me?" he asked, placing a hand over his heart like I'd genuinely hurt him.

"Yes," I said bluntly, laughing quietly as I saw his smile transform into a pout. He looked more like a kicked puppy than a boy who had singlehandedly defeated the Minotaur and escaped my father's maze. "Are there other survivors?"

"I believe so. But I don't think this will help me find them." He held up the rope, which he'd neatly folded up in perfect circles.

"No, it won't," I agreed, knowing that the enchantment only went so far as to lead him, or anyone else, to the center of the maze. "Perhaps I may be of help."

"How? Do you have another enchanted rope up your sleeve?"

I rolled my eyes at Theseus. For starters, my dress didn't have any sleeves, and secondly, making the first rope had taken months of preparation. There was no way I could've made a second rope in the time span of a week.

"No, but there's something Daedalus told me a while ago that I'd like to see. Come, let us find your fellow Athenians."

I slipped my hand into Theseus's, and the two of us dashed into the maze under the cover of darkness.

* * *

I woke up to the sound of someone yelling my name through an Iris-message. It didn't take me long to find a misty image of Nico di Angelo in the corner of the room, hovering above the saltwater spring.

"Nico?" I asked, instantly on high alert. "Is everything alright?"

Like the overprotective mother I am, I instantly began scanning Nico for any signs of injury. Other than some bloodied knuckles, he seemed relatively unharmed.

His hair had grown longer since December, dark, shaggy locks that reached a little past his ears. He was dressed in all black, the only splash of color being a white skull on his shirt and the white soles and laces of his shoes. I saw his Stygian iron sword dangling from his waist, held up on its sheath by a silver chain belt. He was also wearing a beat up aviator jacket, which had some patches from its previous owner stitched onto the shoulder.

"Everything's fine," Nico said tersely, his eyes burning with unbridled anger.

The anger wasn't directed at me, but at Bianca, whom he still hadn't forgiven for leaving him in favor of the Hunters. I'd learned from Cleo that Nico left camp the day of the winter solstice, creating a huge crack in the floor of the dining pavilion before disappearing into the forest.

I'd Iris-messaged him soon after I woke up, asking him where he was and if he was going to be okay. He promised me he'd take care of himself and that he wasn't angry at me, but he didn't want to stay at camp, Bianca's leaving fully setting in while he was there. He asked me to leave him alone and said that he'd contact me when he was ready or if he needed me.

Lo and behold, some six months later, Nico was finally ready to talk.

"So, what's going on?" I asked, frowning as I watched a shadowy figure hover over his shoulder. "And why are you hanging out with Minos?"

Nico paled whiter than the water in the River Lethe. "How'd you know?"

"You forget, I've spent years in the Underworld. I think I'd be able to identify one of the three judges."

"Hello, Andromeda," Minos greeted insincerely. Whenever I was around in the Underworld, he'd try to suck up to me in the hopes I'd talk to Hades about him, so that he could roam the Earth in search of Daedalus. "Glad to see you again."

"No, you're not," I said bluntly. "Now, if you could please leave so I can speak with Nico privately, I'd appreciate it."

"Leave us," Nico said, waving his hand at Minos, causing for his shadowy body to dissipate. I knew he'd come back soon after our IM was done, but for the time being, I wasn't going to have a psychotic king eavesdrop on our conversation.

"You never answered my first question," I noted, tossing in another drachma into the rainbow to prevent the connection from cutting out.

"I've been training with Minos for the past few months, discovering some stuff about my past." Nico shrugged, like it was the most normal thing ever for an eleven-year-old to be training with the spirit of one of the worst antagonists in Greek mythology.

"I could've trained you, you know."

"I know, but I didn't want to be an inconvenience."

"Nico, you're not an in-"

"Don't even finish that sentence," Nico interrupted angrily, his cheeks flushing red in anger. "I'm clearly a major inconvenience or else Bianca wouldn't have left."

"That's not true," I said calmly, not wanting to aggravate him. "Bianca told me the hardest part of joining the Hunters was leaving you behind."

"Then why did she do it?" Nico's anger seemed to drain out of him all at once, leaving behind a broken shell, completely different from the overly excited child I'd known him to be over the last few years.

"Only she can give you that answer, unfortunately. But enough about that; tell me about what you've been doing these last few months."

Nico seemed relieved about the shift of topic, relaxing as he told me about his adventures while I had been stuck at school. Apparently, he'd visited China a few times as a result of learning how to shadow-travel. I laughed and told him about my own shadow-travel mishaps, having landed in Australia and Madagascar when I was starting out.

Despite not having contact with the son of Hades in months, we spoke like we'd recently met up. Honestly, it was nice to have a friend like that. Eventually, the Iris-message timed out, and we said goodbye as the rainbow began to disappear, promising that we'd see each other soon.

"Be careful with Minos," I warned as the image almost finished fading.

"I will, Mom," Nico sassed before slashing his hand through the rainbow, severing the connection entirely.

I rolled my eyes despite the fact that I knew he wouldn't have seen it. Honestly, I was practically the mother of all my friends, being at least five years older than any of them. Well, my demigod friends, anyways. My mortal friends were my age, but with the way Pete and Joe act sometimes, I may as well be five years older than them.

As I left the cabin, I watched Percy come back from that night's campfire, his face shining with exhaustion and worry. I was going to ask him what was wrong, but he completely ignored my presence, walking right to his bed before landing face first onto his pillow, passing out instantly.

Poor kid, I thought to myself, hefting Percy's legs onto his bed so that he wasn't bent over like he'd fallen out of a chair. I untied his shoes and set them at the foot of his bed as well as helping him out of his armor, which he hadn't taken off for some reason. I then draped a blanket over his body, muttering a prayer to Morpheus to give Percy pleasant dreams that night.

I quietly shut the door behind me, frowning as I watched Lee and Michael run for the border, their bows and quivers slung over their shoulders. The kids that were still outside watched the two sons of Apollo in confusion and concern, but they didn't seem all that worried, continuing on with their activities.

I decided to follow them, though I didn't take out any of my weapons yet. I caught up with Lee and Michael at the edge of the border, my eyes scanning the horizon as the trees swayed with the wind.

"What's going on?" I asked, nervously rubbing my bracelet.

"Austin got a vision of a drakon attacking camp, so Chiron sent us out here on border patrol," Lee said, nervously tapping out a melody on his thigh.

"Did he know what kind of drakon it was?"

"No."

"Oh, geez."

Michael gave me a sideways glance. "You don't have to stay, you know. We've got it covered."

"I know, but I want to help." I summoned my own bow, the weight of it and its quiver resting comfortably on my shoulders.

"Whatever you say, Andy," Michael sighed, sitting at the base of one of the trees. Lee quickly joined him. "Get ready for a long night."

* * *

 **Ok, so this is just a little rambling, but I've been obsessed with Dear Evan Hansen for the past three years, and I'm finally going to see the show in April! I'm so excited! To anyone who hasn't heard the soundtrack, I highly recommend listening to it, but be prepared for all the feels to hit you like a freight train. Thank you to everyone who has read this, and I love you all!**


	32. Chapter 32

That night, around three in the morning, the Aethiopian drakon that Austin had seen slithered its way up Half-Blood Hill. Of course, the thing couldn't get past the borders, but merely knowing that it was literally right in front of us was enough to rattle the three of us.

Drakons are much larger and older than their dragon counterparts. For example, Peleus, who easily weighed two tons and was as big as a stretch limo, looked like an earthworm compared to the Aethiopian drakon.

While it couldn't breathe fire, it spewed poison, very similar to one of the hydra heads. And while it couldn't paralyze somebody like Medusa's head, its fierce green eyes gave the impression of a different type of paralysis, the type that made you think _oh-gods-that-thing-is-going-to-eat-me-right-now._

Whenever the drakon got too close for comfort, one of us would shoot, but our arrows would bounce off its skin harmlessly. Honestly, our arrows were as effective as if we had grabbed some rubber bands and launched toothpicks at the drakon.

"We've shot twenty arrows, and all we've done is make it mad," Lee said incredulously, nocking another arrow onto his bow.

"I think it's going away," Michael said, relaxing his grip on his bow.

And sure enough, the ginormous drakon slithered off to wherever it came from, its obnoxiously large tail knocking over dozens pine trees in its wake.

"If you guys want to get some sleep, I'll stand guard tonight," I offered, returning my arrow back to my quiver and slinging my bow over my shoulder.

The two brothers looked at each other.

"We can't ask you to do that," Michael said, fidgeting with his camp beads. "You weren't supposed to be out here anyways."

"Yeah, Chiron told us you were supposed to stay away from the borders."

"Is that really what he told you both?" I asked, shock flooding my voice. I knew he was afraid, but I didn't think it had been this severe.

"He didn't tell us much," continued Lee, "but he wants you here under his supervision. Don't know what you could've done to get this much attention from him."

"I mean, Chiron's always been pretty relaxed around you," Michael agreed. "I think he's just on edge with this whole Titan uprising mess."

"I'll have to talk with him later, then. Seriously, though, my offer still stands."

"Nah, I think we'll stay here. What do you think Lee?"

"I'll stay if you stay."

Michael gave me a blinding smile, imitating his father perfectly even if the sun wasn't supposed to rise for another three hours. "You can't get rid of us that easily, Andy."

I held my hands up in surrender. "Fine, but I better not hear any complaints from either one of you tomorrow during training. Now, who's down for some cards?"

"Me!" the two exclaimed happily.

The three of us sat down and played cards until the sun came up, none of us moving from border patrol until we heard the conch shell that signaled breakfast.

Thank the gods. I was already craving coffee, having become addicted to the stuff during the school year. And with the way my internal clock worked, if I didn't have caffeine in my system by nine in the morning, I'd get a headache later.

Ugh, when did I turn into an old lady?

I took my breakfast to go that morning, much to Percy and Tyson's confusion. I waved them off, telling them we'd talk later, taking a bite out of my bagel as I walked over to Chiron, who was calmly sipping at his orange juice.

"We need to talk," I said in a low voice, glancing behind me to make sure that none of the Hermes kids were eavesdropping. Honestly, some of those kids had sharper ears than the satyrs. "In private."

"Can it wait until after my master's archery class?" Chiron said, raising his eyebrows at me as he dabbed at the corner of his mouth with a napkin. "I promised my class that I'd have a surprise set up for them today."

"I'll be at the Big House tomorrow at two-thirty." I left Chiron at his table, ignoring the curious stares from campers, satyrs, and nymphs alike. I took another bite of my bagel, grabbed some coffee, and headed for the lake.

When I reached the lake, I found someone else sitting at the edge of the dock. I took a seat next to him, quietly drinking my coffee as I kicked off my flip-flops, allowing my feet to touch the cold water. He was silent, too, a pensive expression on his face as he blankly stared at the surface of the lake, his reflection shimmering from the little ripples I was creating.

I hadn't seen Luke for some time now, but I knew he had also purposefully distanced himself from other campers after Thalia had joined the Hunters last winter. I still didn't know the full details about what happened, but I knew that they had still been dating when she joined the Hunt, completely shattering Luke's heart.

At least Cleo had done what I asked of her, keeping Luke out of my father's manipulative hands. He was still beyond betrayed, but his broken heart hadn't been enough to turn him to the Titan cause. But he was nothing like the Luke I'd once known – quiet, reserved, moody. I can't remember the last time he genuinely smiled or laugh, something that saddened me greatly.

It didn't help matters that Mr. D forbade Luke from leaving camp by himself. I would've thought that Mr. D didn't care if Luke left or not, but maybe Hermes had threatened him or something, because if it were up to Mr. D, we'd all be kicked out of camp the second we started to annoy him.

Finally, Luke looked up from the water, sighing deeply as he leaned back on the heels of his hand, basking in the morning sunlight.

"Hello, Andy," he said, kicking his feet to create little waves in the water. "Long time, no see."

"Likewise," I replied, setting my now empty coffee cup aside.

We sat in comfortable silence, watching the sun continue to rise over the horizon. There was really no need to catch up; we both knew enough about the other's life up until now. I pulled out a book and began to read, only pausing when I heard Luke ask, "Why do you like to read so much?"

I looked up, putting in my bookmark just in case. "They're my escape," I answered truthfully. "It's nice to go into another world, where some people's problems are way worse than ours. Sometimes, they help take my mind off of things."

"Like what?"

"Well, if I'm stressed out about school, I read fantasy. If I'm worried about what's going on at camp, I read comedies. Basically, I read the opposite of whatever negative emotion I'm feeling at that moment."

"So what are you reading now?" Luke asked, sitting up, intrigued by my philosophy.

" _Looking for Alaska,"_ I said, pausing to glance at the cover. Such a simple cover for such an amazing book.

Luke raised his eyebrows in suspicion. "Doesn't Alaska-?"

"Yes, she does," I cut him off. Just because I know what happens doesn't mean you, dear reader, know the ending.

"Then why the Hades are you reading that book at a time like this? Are you trying to make yourself sad?"

"It's…complicated."

"I'm all ears."

I sighed and set my book aside, brushing a stray hair behind my ear. Of course, leave it to Luke to ask the deep questions.

I told him about my dreams, the ones that involved the death of my friend. He didn't need to know about my other dreams, where I'd become Princess Ariadne and hang out with Theseus and Daedalus on Crete. Well, before Theseus escaped the maze, anyways, because I knew that he would leave Ariadne on the island of Naxos and marry Phaedra, Ariadne's younger sister. Then, Dionysus would find Ariadne and make her his immortal wife.

"So to prepare yourself for the death of a friend, you read _Looking for Alaska?"_ Luke shook his head in surprise. "All you're doing is hurting yourself."

"At least these people are fictional," I argued, feeling my face heat up in embarrassment. I mean, a few years ago, I believed all these people were fictional. Maybe John Green's world existed in some universe. "My friend is real."

"Who is it?"

"I can't say. The Fates forbid it." I bit my lip, trying to suppress those hellish images my mind enjoyed to create while I slept.

I still vividly remember the scent of her blood on my hands as I held her limp body, crying as I tried to heal her despite the fact that I knew she was gone. I remember her pallid skin, which was sticky with her own blood and quickly losing heat, truly making her appear like a corpse. Her eyes were still gazing up at the sky, never to look at the sun and moon and stars ever again.

I remember hearing the sounds of battle around us, but I couldn't make out anything over the sound of my pulse roaring in my ears. Nothing touched us, as I apparently surrounded the two of us in a dome of fire, repelling monsters and demigods alike.

"Then take this piece of advice from someone who's lost his best friend," Luke sighed, running a hand through his disheveled hair. "Don't take any moment for granted. Spend as much time with them as you can before it's too late."

"You're right," I agreed, already coming up with a few plans of things I wanted my friend to experience before she died. "Hey, do you want to leave camp for the day?"

"I can't," Luke said miserably. "Mr. D would turn me into a dolphin if my feet so much as cross the border."

"I thought you could leave if someone else goes with you?"

He shrugged. "If that's true, I haven't heard."

"Well, that's what I've heard, so you're coming with me. No more moping around here."

"I'm not moping!"

"Yeah, right," I snorted, earning myself a punch to the arm as well as a small smile from Luke. "So, you coming or what?"

"Fine, you win."

I smiled and got to my feet, offering Luke a hand up. Before the two of us left, I managed to kidnap Cleo from the infirmary and shadow-traveled us to the Fountains Plaza, an awesome place that had amazing restaurants as well as other activities like bowling, ice and roller skating, an arcade, and a movie theater.

Of course, Pete and Joe had been the ones to find this place, coming across it when their car broke down on the way back to campus after they went to visit Joe's girlfriend. So while they waited for a tow and a rental car, the two of them went bowling. Apparently, Pete threw the ball up by "accident" and caused for a part of the ceiling to collapse onto their bowling lane.

By some miracle, Pete wasn't banned from the bowling alley, and once he and Joe got back to campus, they brought Leah and me along the following weekend. We'd watched a couple of movies before going to the arcade, while Leah exclaimed, "Boys versus girls!" Needless to say, things got pretty heated as we competed for the most tickets.

Unsurprisingly, Leah and I won, meaning that Pete and Joe had to buy our coffee for a week. In return, we used our tickets to get the biggest prize available, which was this large box of Nerf guns that came with a hundred-fifty darts. It was totally worth the Saturday school we had to attend after accidently shooting the track and field coach in the face during one of our Nerf wars.

"Andy, are you okay?" Cleo asked, jolting me back into reality as she shook my arm. "You have a dumb smile on your face."

I smiled even wider. "I just have a lot of really good memories here. So, what do you guys want to do? There's an arcade, bowling, roller or ice skating, and a movie theater. And the restaurants here are really good if either one of you are hungry."

"Ooh, can we ice skate?" Cleo asked excitedly, her sky blue eyes lit up with unbridled joy.

"What do you think, Luke?"

"Anything you want, kid," he replied, the corners of his lips quirking upwards. "But let me warn you now, I suck at ice skating."

"Then you'll get one of those walkers," Cleo suggested, causing me to snort as I tried to bite back my laughter. I could imagine Luke holding onto the walker for dear life, scowling as he tried to skate forward while other children skated past. "What's so funny?" I laughed even harder, eliciting an annoyed sigh from Luke.

"Oh, nothing," I said, catching my breath as Luke continued to glare at me. "Come on. Ice skating it is."

* * *

We spent the entire day at the Fountains Plaza, much to Cleo's enjoyment. Luke had finally started to have a good time the second he could stand on his own without the walker when we were ice skating, finally smiling genuinely as Cleo grabbed his hand and started to drag him along while she laughed like a maniac.

I had skated behind the duo, waiting for the inevitable moment when they'd crash. When they crashed, it wasn't because of Cleo's insane speed or Luke's clumsiness, no, it was the fault of one of the workers who tried to talk to them by standing in front of them, causing for the three of them to land in a heap on the floor.

I chuckled to myself as I helped Luke and Cleo up, persuading the worker to leave us alone for the rest of the time that we stayed in the ice rink, which turned out to be another three hours.

After ice skating, we went to the arcade, where we found out that our demigod abilities were extremely helpful in certain games. While Cleo wasn't the most skilled at archery, her accuracy was almost perfect in anything that required shooting – skeeball, basketball, you name it. I guess arcades weren't demigod proof.

Luke was pretty good at things that required speed. I'm pretty sure he almost broke the whack-a-mole hammer at one point, managing to take out six moles before they sank back down into the machine. Luke also excelled at this one game where you wanted to hit these buttons that lit up, managing to rack up over a thousand points every time he played.

For any game that had water, I used it to my advantage, pushing the little ducks through the doors with the water gun. I could also use shadows in certain games, but I had to be a little more discreet if I did that, because people would notice arcs of darkness guiding balls into their hoops or goals if I did it too often.

Eventually, after we used up all our tokens, we joined our tickets together to get some of the bigger prizes. Cleo ended up with a large tie-dyed teddy bear, Luke got a tub of cotton candy and some Airheads and Jolly Ranchers, and I got a stuffed wolf and a pack of M&Ms.

By the time we'd finished playing at the arcade, the sun was already starting to set. Once I was sure both Luke and Cleo were ready to leave, I shadow-traveled us back to camp, giving the three of us barely enough time to drop our stuff off in our cabins and high-tail it to the dining pavilion.

Word had spread about a training activity that Quintus had wanted to try out tonight, so I could practically feel the excitement in the air as I took a seat at the Poseidon table, deciding to sacrifice a portion of my meal with my own fire. Hey, I just sat down, and I didn't feel like getting up again right now.

"To the gods," I whispered under my breath as my grapes and a bread roll turned into smoke. I then grabbed my shish-kebob and took a bite.

"Where have you been?" Percy demanded, his arms crossed over his chest defiantly.

"Out."

He rolled his eyes in exasperation. "Yeah, but where? I've been wanting to talk to you all day."

"I went with some friends to Fountains Plaza for the day. We needed a break from camp, so we left."

"Does Chiron know? Or Quintus?"

"Nope, and I plan on keeping it that way," I said, giving Percy a pointed look. He made the motion of zipping his lips and throwing away the key. "So, what did you want to talk to me about?"

Percy winced, casting a glance in Annabeth's direction. The Athena cabin had stopped eating, placing their plates on the benches as a map of the forest took up the entire length of the table, each one of the brainiacs writing something down. Annabeth was talking with Malcolm, her half-eaten roll in one hand while a pencil was in the other.

If Percy had been looking to Annabeth for reassurance, he wasn't going to get any right now.

"Not here," Percy decided, pushing the rest of his food around with his fork. "I'm not hungry," he mumbled, standing up and scraping the rest of meal into the bathtub-sized brazier before sitting back down, putting his head in his hands.

I stopped eating, concern controlling my actions now. I mentally went through the books, cursing silently when I realized that this was something unwritten. I really didn't have a clue what had happened between Percy's conversation with Blackjack and the beginning of Quintus' evening activity.

"We're talking later tonight," I said, my voice holding a tone of finality to it, like I was daring Percy to argue with me.

"Okay," he said in resignation, angrily tugging at his hair.

I looked around, hoping to find Tyson or Grover, but neither one of them were to be found. Maybe Grover was visiting Juniper, or Tyson could still be in the forges. But that didn't make any sense, since they were partners for tonight's evening activity, even if they didn't know that yet.

I stood up from my side of the table and took a seat next to Percy, giving him a side hug as well as pulling his hands away from his hair. He'd give himself a headache if he kept pulling that hard.

Percy sighed and leaned into my chest, shutting his eyes as he relaxed. I started to wonder about what had happened to him this past year. I hadn't seen Percy since December, unable to catch a break from school to visit him as often as I used to. He said he understood, but I could tell he was disappointed that our interaction had basically been reduced to only seeing each other during the summer.

Once it was clear that we had finished eating, Chiron dismissed us, telling us that we had ten minutes to suit up in combat armor and return here for further instructions. Percy and I returned to the Poseidon cabin and suited up. We had found Tyson in the cabin and told him to suit up, too. Apparently, he had been working in the forges with James to make more weapons and recently found out about tonight's evening activity.

The three of us returned back to the dining pavilion, where I found Grover standing next to Annabeth. His armor seemed to be made of wood and vines (no nymphs or dryads were hurt in the making of said armor), and a wooden club about two and a half feet long was in his hand. I bent down and picked up a few blades of grass, sticking them into Grover's armor before causing them to weave together like a quilt, strengthening the armor's durability and maximizing comfort.

"Thanks, Andy," Grover said, shifting uncomfortably as Tyson approached.

Percy was standing next to Annabeth, his right hand fidgeting nervously as he glanced down at Annabeth's hand, which was mere millimeters away from his own. I smiled knowingly at the son of Poseidon, before turning my attention to Quintus, who was standing on top of the head table.

"Right," Quintus said, gaining everyone's attention. "Gather 'round."

He was dressed in black leather and bronze. In the torchlight, his gray hair made him look like a ghost, which I guess, he technically was. Mrs. O'Leary bounded happily around him, foraging for dinner scraps.

"You will be in teams of two," Quintus announced, causing for people to instantly move to grab their best friend. Then he yelled over the sudden commotion: "Which have already been decided!"

"AWWWWW!" everybody complained.

"Your goal is simple: collect the gold laurels without dying. The wreath is wrapped in a silk package, tied to the back of one of the monsters. There are six monsters. Each has a silk package. Only one holds the laurels. You must find the wreath before the other teams. And, of course…you will have to slay the monster to get it, and stay alive."

Everyone began tittering in excitement. The instructions were clear enough, and hey, we'd all slain monsters before. It's literally the only reason we trained. Well, it was before Kronos decided to rear his ugly face, but you know what I mean.

"I will now announce your partners," Quintus said. "There will be no trading. No switching. No complaining."

 _"_ _Aroooof!"_ Mrs. O'Leary buried her face in a plate of pizza.

Quintus produced a big scroll and started reading off names. Beckendorf would be with Silena Beauregard, which Beckendorf looked pretty happy about. The Stoll brothers, Travis and Connor, would be together, which wasn't all that surprising. Those two did everything together. Clarisse was with Lee Fletcher, a really good combination of a strong melee and ranged fighter.

"Andy Collins and Cleo Russo," Quintus said, causing for the two of us to meet up and give each other high-fives.

Luke ended up getting paired with James Turner, Percy with Annabeth, and finally, Tyson and Grover.

Grover just about leapt out of his fur when he heard who his partner was. "What? B-but-"

"No, no," Tyson whimpered. "Must be a mistake. Goat boy-"

"No complaining!" Quintus ordered. "Get with your partner. You have two minutes to prepare!"

Tyson and Grover both looked at Percy pleadingly. He tried for an encouraging nod, gesturing for the two of them to move closer together. Tyson sneezed. Grover began nervously chewing the end of his wooden club.

"They'll be fine," I heard Annabeth say to Percy as Cleo grabbed my hand, dragging me towards the forest.

"You ready?" Cleo asked, adjusting her bow and quiver so they weren't digging into the side of her neck.

I smiled down at the daughter of Apollo and ruffled her hair, something I knew she detested. She complained, but I laughed, saying, "As ready as I'll ever be, pip-squeak. Let's win this thing."

"Hades, yeah!" she cheered, dashing deeper into the dark forest. I rolled my eyes and chased after her, preparing myself for tonight's discovery.


	33. Chapter 33

Despite the fact that the sun hadn't finished setting yet, the forest made it seem like it was the middle of the night, the trees' shadows blocking out any remaining sunlight. The only thing that kept Cleo and I from running into trees and tripping over our own two feet was the faint bronze glow that came from my sword, giving us just enough illumination to see.

"I hear something," Cleo whispered, holding a hand out for us to stop. Silently, she nocked and arrow and tilted her head to the sideways, craning to listen.

I tightened my grip on Epithymia, turning around in a small circle to get my bearings. Something was nearby, I could sense it from the way that the dryads fled into their trees, meaning that one of the six monsters Quintus had released was coming our way.

"There!" Cleo whisper shouted, drawing back her bow and shooting between a few bushes, where something had just rushed past, causing for the leaves to rustle together.

The monster hissed, revealing that Cleo's arrow had hit its mark. It pushed through the forest, standing in front of us, forcing Cleo and me to back up before its pinchers could snap us up.

Quintus had ordered six scorpions from the Triple G Ranch, each one about ten feet long. Even in the fading sunlight, I could see that the scorpion appeared to be made out of pure amber with jagged pinchers, an armored tail, and a nasty barb that was easily three feet long. Its beady black eyes were the size of a small shield, the kind we gave to the younger kids during training to keep the Ares kids from skewering them in the arena.

On its back, I could see the white silk wrapped package, which may or may not have contained the gold laurels. Cleo eyes the packaged, quickly nocking another arrow, drawing her string back, and releasing the string. Her arrow hit one of the scorpion's legs, causing it to hiss angrily and charge us.

My eyes widened, and I practically tackled Cleo aside to avoid being run over. I brought my sword down behind me, hearing the scorpion hiss even more as the blade cut into its armored hide and got stuck there.

"Styx," I swore, drawing my daggers as Cleo clambered up a tree, shooting at the scorpion's unprotected back. I'd get my sword back later, but right now, I was more concerned about not being snapped in half by pinchers or stabbed by a poisoned barb.

The scorpion whirled around, clearly annoyed by the arrows landing in its hide, but while the front was focused on trying to shoo Cleo out of her tree, its three feet long barb was trained on me. I didn't think it was possible for the tail of an animal to be so coordinated while the head fought something else, but clearly that didn't apply to scorpion monsters.

I had to cross my daggers together in an X to prevent the scorpion's barb from stabbing my chest. Even then, the best I could do is push against it as it fought back, causing my feet to dig into the dirt.

Then, I stopped pushing against the barb and ducked to the side, causing for the scorpion's tail to dig into the ground. Before the scorpion could recover, I slashed downward, severing the barb from the rest of the tail. Now, while it was distracted by the loss of its tail, I raced forward and yanked my sword free from its side.

The scorpion lurched sideways, and I heard a feral growl pierce through the air before Cleo leaped from her tree, landing onto the scorpion's back. I kept the pinchers away from her by taking point and slashing at the scorpion's front, forcing it to choose between attacking me or Cleo.

"Got it!" Cleo announced triumphantly.

"Good job! But we kind of have to kill this thing first!" I shouted, chopping off one of the scorpion's pinchers.

Moments later, where the scorpion had been, gold dust littered the ground as Cleo landed flat on her stomach, muttering curses in Ancient Greek as she stood up and dusted herself off. She sheathed her dagger against her thigh, before tearing into the silk package, swearing when she realized that the laurels were not in this package.

"Time to find another scorpion," I said, tucking the silk into my belt to dispose of later.

"Oh, joy," Cleo said, rolling her eyes as she nocked another arrow onto her bow.

On this one scorpion, she'd already used half of her quiver, so I knew we needed a better strategy than straight up fighting. Quintus had never mentioned anything about powers, so they must've been fair game. At least, that's what made the most sense.

"To Zeus's Fist," I said, pushing branches aside as we ran to the pile of rocks.

"Why there?"

"Just a feeling."

"You and your premonitions," Cleo sighed, and I knew she was shaking her head even though she was behind me.

But I was proven right when we found three of the scorpions guarding Zeus's Fist, the scorpions seeming very ticked off at the large piles of rocks. They tried to pull the pile apart with their pinchers, and occasionally, they'd stab their barb at it, like that would change anything.

This time, before the scorpions could attack, I waved my hands towards the monsters, wrapping them up in thick vines. Surprisingly, all three packages were still on the scorpion's back, meaning that no one else had found them yet.

But I knew that none of these scorpions had the laurels, because Clarisse and Lee were destined to win tonight's evening activity. Still, for pretenses, Cleo and I attacked the scorpions, killing them and tearing into the packages, scowling when none of them had the laurels.

"Seriously?" Cleo muttered, tucking some of the excess silk into her own belt. "We killed two-thirds of the scorpions, and _none_ of them have the laurels?"

Before I could say anything, the whistle blew, signaling the end of tonight's evening activity. Cleo brushed her hair out of her face, scowling as she tucked her arrow back into her quiver, stomping back towards camp.

I didn't know why she was so upset about losing tonight. I'd never seen Cleo so angry, especially over evening activity. We've lost capture the flag and other sparring matches before, but she seemed to take this loss personally. She was gone before I could ask what was wrong.

When the thirty-ish of us returned back to the dining pavilion, Clarisse and Lee were standing on one of the tables, gold laurels resting loftily on their heads. Cleo was standing by Will, her arms crossed over her chest while Will patted her back in an attempt to comfort her.

"Congratulations to Lee and Clarisse for taking the laurels and slaying the beast!" Quintus announced, earning a few scattered applauses from the rest of us.

"We would've won, but a Cyclops sat on me," Grover mumbled.

"Was an accident!" Tyson retorted before sneezing.

"Wait," I said, looking around. "Where are Percy and Annabeth?"

Chiron frowned. "They didn't hear the whistle?"

"Apparently not. I'll go search for them, if you want."

"No, we shall all search for them together. Come on, campers, grab some torches, and let's go."

We all turned back towards the forest, yelling Annabeth and Percy's names as we walked. I lit a fire in my hands and headed back for Zeus's Fist, which was the opposite direction that everyone else was walking.

When I got back to Zeus's Fist, I climbed up the rocks, stopping over one of the large cracks. It was the same one I'd felt back in December, after Mr. D told me to stop by to investigate. This time, I could feel the tunnel underneath the rocks, and seeing that it was sturdy, I knew it wasn't going to disappear any time soon.

While the voices of the campers got fainter, I took note of the time and started to wait. A perk about being Kronos' daughter was that I had a perfect internal clock, so I always knew what time it was no matter where I was. And while I could've gone into the Labyrinth to get Percy and Annabeth back, one, Chiron forbade it, and two, according to the books, they were gone for an hour after evening activity ended. And as much as I've enjoyed changing this timeline, I knew there were some things that had to stay as they were, this being one of those times.

I extinguished my fire, choosing to wait inconspicuously on top of Zeus's Fist. Eventually, an hour passed, and the rest of the campers had almost made it to my location. They'd been searching so long that some of their torches went out, and I had to relight them.

"Percy! Annabeth!" Tyson shouted, his voice overpowering the rest of ours.

A few minutes later, I watched as Percy and Annabeth crawled out of Zeus's Fist, running right into Clarisse and a bunch of other campers. While Clarisse, Grover, and Tyson interrogated the duo, I walked over to Chiron, whispering, "They found it," under my breath.

Like clockwork, Clarisse asked Annabeth, "You found it, didn't you?"

Annabeth bit her lip. "I-Yeah. Yeah, we did."

Campers began asking questions, totally lost as to what the two were talking about. I bit my lip, holding myself back from joining their conversation. I'd found some stuff out that I wasn't sure that they had known the first time around, but Chiron had pulled me off the research team at the same time he forbade me from entering the Labyrinth. He knew what I'd learned but told me to keep quiet, which was really out of character for him. I'd tried to ask why, but he decided to go hard of hearing and ignored everything else I had to say.

Chiron raised his hand, silencing everyone. "Tonight is not the right time, and this is not the right place." He stared at the boulders as if he'd just noticed how dangerous they were. "All of you, back to your cabins. Get some sleep. A game well played, but curfew is past!"

There was a lot of mumbling and complaints, but the campers drifted off, talking amongst themselves and giving Percy and Annabeth suspicious looks.

"This explains a lot," Clarisse said. "It explains what Kyle is after."

"Wait a second," Percy said. "What do you mean? What did we find?"

"I warned you guys," I told Annabeth and Clarisse. "It was only a matter of time until the passageway opened."

Annabeth turned towards Percy, a worried expression on her face clear as day. "An entrance to the Labyrinth. An invasion route straight into the heart of camp." She sighed and said, "Clarisse, I need to talk with you. In private," she added, after seeing the looks that Percy and I were giving her.

The two demigoddesses walked off, conversing with each other about the newly made discovery and what that meant for the camp. I rolled my eyes, remembering that I had a notebook chock full of information about everything related to the Labyrinth in my possession, which Chiron told me to keep secret until further notice.

I figured he meant until we were a hundred percent sure of the Labyrinth's existence, so I'd give Annabeth the notebook at the next counselor meeting. Technically, I wasn't supposed to attend any of the meetings since I wasn't the head of any cabin, but seeing that I was the oldest demigod at camp, Chiron made an exception for me.

On the way back to cabin three, I finally had my talk with Percy, the one that I told him we'd have during dinner. But it wasn't until we were inside cabin three that he really opened up, saying everything in a rushed breath, like he was afraid that I'd cut him off.

"I'm so scared of everything all the time," Percy confessed, glaring daggers at the abalone walls, unable to meet my eyes. "I'm always in danger in the mortal world, and now we're about to go to war with the Titan King, who just so happens to have an entrance into camp. And then there's the whole thing with the Great Prophecy, which no one wants to tell me about. All I know is that bad things are going to happen next year, and I'm going to be caught in the middle of it all."

He was tugging at his hair again, a nervous habit of his. "I never wanted to be a hero, Andy. I never wanted this life."

I sat down on Percy's bunk, enveloping in a proper hug this time. He exhaled deeply and wrapped his arms around me, like he was trying to ground himself to reality. I hummed under my breath, which seemed to soothe him.

"Whatever happens within the next year," I said, pressing a sisterly kiss onto Percy's forehead, "know that I'll stand by you. We'll defeat my father, Percy. And if you ever need a reminder that the mortal world exists, let me know. I'll take you to visit your mother, if you want, or we can literally go anywhere in the world. Just, remember to enjoy this next year, okay?"

"You make it sound like I'm going to die when I turn sixteen," Percy grumbled.

"Not if I can help it." I pulled away from the hug. "But we've got more pressing matters to deal with at the moment. Get some sleep. And feel free to wake me if you get a bad nightmare."

Percy blushed and hid his face behind his pillow. "Am I really that noisy when I dream?"

I chuckled at his embarrassment and stood up from Percy's bed. "Nah, I'm just a really light sleeper. Plus, I get some nasty dreams myself, so I wake up pretty frequently during the night. Being powerful isn't all it's cracked up to be, huh?"

"Preach it, sister," Percy laughed, getting up to change into his pajamas. We really didn't care about changing in front of each other anymore, but we still respected each other's privacy. I'd face one way while I changed, and Percy did the same.

I wasn't all that worried about Tyson seeing me, as he was snoring soundly in his bunk, an oil-stained cloth still gripped firmly in his hand. Seriously, nothing could wake a sleeping Cyclops other than the promise of peanut butter sandwiches. Thankfully, the enchanted plates in the dining pavilion could provide an unlimited amount of peanut butter sandwiches, something Tyson absolutely adored.

Percy turned off the lights and climbed under his covers, staring at the bottom of the bunk above him. I did the same thing, and though it took me a while to fall asleep, I finally did.

I dreamt I was back at Zeus's Fist, dressed in full combat armor like I'd wore tonight. This time, however, all the campers, satyrs, and some nymphs were armed and clutching onto their weapons, facing the rocks. The Hephaestus cabin had set up some catapults a couple feet behind us, their own supply of boulders ready to be fired.

The Ares cabin had split up into two major phalanxes, standing with their spears and swords and shields right in front of Zeus's Fist, prepared to take the brunt of the attack. The Apollo cabin had also split up, backing up the Ares cabin from behind with their bows. Athena and Hermes campers filled in the gaps between Ares and Apollo.

Even the Demeter, Dionysus, and Aphrodite cabins were all suited up for battle, though many of the Demeter and Aphrodite kids stayed towards the back, standing by the Hephaestus children. The two sons of Dionysus, Castor and Pollux, were quickly lost in the crowd, taking stand with Athena and Hermes.

I was standing next to Percy and Chiron, who had kept the two of us back as reinforcements. Percy was fidgeting with Riptide, his entire body visibly on edge as we waited for the whole army of nasties to burst through the rocks. I wasn't much better, but I managed to stay still as long as I clenched my jaw.

My dream then fast-forwarded, by passing most of the battle. My arms ached, and I felt like I was breathing fire, which meant I'd either hurt my ribs or I'd been fighting for a long time without ever getting a reprieve.

I dodged an empousa, stabbing the she-demon through the chest as my vision tunneled, finding Cleo all alone in the middle of a group of dracaenae. Her bow lay on the floor, the limbs completely snapped and the string nowhere to be found. Her empty quiver was by her feet, no longer of any use to her. All she had was her dagger against three dracaenae, all of whom had a trident and a fishing net.

If Cleo wasn't the best archer, she sure as hell wasn't the best swordsman, only using her dagger in dire situations, which this clearly was. I screamed in frustration, charging towards Cleo, my sword laced with fire as I sliced down anything in my way.

But I was too late.

One of the dracaenae trapped Cleo's arm in her net, leaving the daughter of Apollo unable to defend herself. She tried to free herself by punching the offending dracaena and sweeping her snake legs out from underneath her, but one of the other two took the opportunity and speared Cleo right through the chest.

Cleo looked down at the bronze trident tips sticking out of her ribcage in shock, blood immediately beginning to pour from her mouth.

This time when I screamed, it was out of anguish. I pointed my sword in the direction of the three dracaenae that had hurt Cleo and poured all my emotions into my fire, watching as the color shifted from red-orange to a dangerous lime green, allowing it to consume the snake women as they crumpled into dust, returning to the depths of Tartarus.

Despite the battle going on around us, I ran to Cleo's side, cradling her like a newborn in my arms.

"You're okay," I said, brushing her hair out of her face. "You're going to be fine."

But I knew I was lying to myself, because she was already gone.

Her sky blue eyes had already glazed over, forever fixated on the sun, where her father was. She had little rivulets of blood out of the corners of her mouth, signaling punctured lungs. She had a hole the size of my fist in the center of her chest, where the trident had pierced her heart and lungs.

"Cleo Bethany Russo," I said, my voice cracking on her name. Tears formed in my eyes and began falling onto her lifeless face. And even though she was Greek, I figured that my goodbye couldn't hurt any more than it already did. " _Ave atque vale."_

I held her and sobbed, ignoring the battle going on around me. However, nothing could get close to me, as in reaction to my emotions, my fire had surrounded me in a protective dome, lashing out at anything that approached within a five-foot radius.

I let a few more tears fall before shadow-traveling Cleo's body somewhere safe, where I was sure I could take care of her up until her shroud burning. I stood up, wiped away my tears, and picked up my sword once more.

My father was going to _pay_ for killing my best friend.

* * *

I woke up with a start at four in the morning, furiously wiping away at the tears I'd cried while I slept.

I'd been having this same reoccurring nightmare for the past six months, but as the events quickly approached, more and more details revealed themselves. For example, when I first started having this nightmare, I couldn't make out any major details other than I knew I was somewhere in the forest at Camp Half-Blood. Slowly, faces came into detail, one by one until I was able to give you the names of every single camper, satyr, and nymph that would fight that day.

For the past six months, I've known that Cleo was one of the campers that was fated to die during the Battle of the Labyrinth. And the Fates had shown up the next day after I found out about Cleo, warning me that if I interfered with her death, they'd kill Bianca instead. And then they'd kill Cleo anyways.

What was I supposed to do? I didn't want Cleo to die, but I wasn't going to let the Fates kill Bianca for something I had done.

That brings me to my current situation, checking off the days I still have left with my best friend. That's why I'd invited her to Fountains Plaza and why I was so worried about why she was taking tonight's loss so seriously. I mean, I would've done either of these things anyways, but even more so now than ever before because of what I knew.

I tried to fall back asleep, but after thirty minutes of tossing and turning in my bed, I sat up and rubbed my eyes, deciding to get started with my day even though the sun wouldn't rise for another couple of hours.

I made my bed before walking over to the emptier side of the cabin, starting to silently workout right then and there. I didn't stop until I heard Percy gasp and sit up, breathing heavily as frantically looked around.

"You okay, squirt?" I asked quietly, wiping away my sweat with my towel as I popped a squat by Percy's bed.

"Yeah, fine," he replied shakily, fisting his blankets tightly in his hands.

I pursed my lips together, knowing he was lying to me. "How bad was it?"

"It was just some king terrorizing an old inventor and his son. I don't know why I'm so shaken up about it."

"Probably because you saw Daedalus," I explained. "It'd make sense, especially since we're facing the threat from the Labyrinth. Context is helpful sometimes."

Percy looked at me with wide eyes. "How were you able to decipher that from what I told you?"

I shrugged. "Not many kings terrorized old inventors and their sons in the myths other than Minos. Plus, demigod dreams tend to reflect what's going on in our lives. Morpheus, god of dreams, tends to work that way."

"Wish he didn't," Percy grumbled, stretching his arms above his head as he got out of his bed. "I'd enjoy some decent sleep on a more frequent basis."

"You and me both," I said with a smile, peeling off my workout tank top in favor of a camp shirt.

Then Tyson woke up, slowly sitting up as to not bang his head on the bunk above him. He yawned and rubbed his eye, a toothy grin resting easily on his face. "Good morning!" he said happily, getting out of bed, still fully dressed in his armor from last night.

"Uh, Tyson," Percy said, "you can take your armor off now, bud. Back to normal activities today."

Tyson glanced down, genuinely surprised by the fact that he was still wearing his armor. "Oh. Yes. I'll take it off now."

While the boys finished getting dressed for the day, somebody knocked on our front door. Seeing that I was the only one not half naked, I opened the door, surprised to find Silena Beauregard. It wouldn't have been a surprise if it was Grover, Annabeth, or Cleo, because they always swung by to check in on Percy and me. But Silena never dropped by unless she had cabin inspection duty, so it was strange having her on our front doorstep.

"Morning, Silena," I greeted, making sure to only have the door as ajar as it needed to be.

Although I knew Silena wouldn't peek, other Aphrodite children had no qualms about gawking at Percy while he got dressed. It got so bad at one point that I had to add a second lock and blackout curtains to our window after I caught the Stoll brothers recording Percy getting dressed to sell the video to the Aphrodite girls.

"Hi, Andy," Silena responded, as friendly as ever. "Chiron's calling for a war council in the arena in fifteen minutes. He wants you, Percy, and Tyson to be there."

"We'll be there," I promised her. "The boys are almost done getting ready, so we should be in the arena in anywhere between five to ten minutes."

"Great! See you there." She gave me one last dazzling smile before turning on her heel and walking off in the direction of the arena.

Sure enough, by the time Silena had disappeared from my line of sight, Percy and Tyson were fully dressed. I told them about the war council, to which they responded, "What about breakfast?"

I smiled and rolled my eyes, summoning my bag. Ever since the Sea of Monsters, I'd been preparing for situations like this. I handed Percy a blueberry muffin that was in perfect condition, which seemed like a miracle considering how many things I had shoved away in here. As for Tyson, I had a ton of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in my bag because of Pete and Joe.

I swear to gods, those two were always hungry. I couldn't go anywhere with them without them having some sort of snack in their hand or stopping somewhere to buy food. As a result, I started keeping sandwiches in my bag, something they were both happy about.

And seeing that I'd recently made these sandwiches, and my bag's magic kept food from spoiling, the bread hadn't gone moldy, and the peanut butter and jelly still retained their distinctive tastes.

I grabbed a chocolate chip granola bar for myself, eating it as the three of us walked to the arena.

Once we got to the arena, I took a seat between the Stoll brothers and Juniper. Also in attendance were Silena, Beckendorf, Annabeth, Lee, Grover, Clarisse, Luke, Katie, Pollux, Castor, and even Argus, our hundred-eyed head of security. Chiron and Quintus stood at the front by the weapon racks.

Clarisse and Annabeth led the briefing, bringing everyone up to speed on what they'd learned about the Labyrinth in the past six months. During that time, I gave Annabeth my notes, adding onto what she and Clarisse had said.

Juniper revealed to us that Kyle had been checking out Zeus's Fist since before he turned, which made no sense to me as the tunnel had only recently established itself there. I seriously doubted Kronos could look so far into the future to tell Kyle about the future Labyrinth entrance, but then again, he was the Titan of Time, so maybe it was feasible for him.

Then came the conversation about Kyle wanting to navigate the Labyrinth, and for those who didn't know the story of Daedalus, I gave them a brief summary. While the rest of the campers kept debating about what to do, Percy asked, "Why don't you just blow up the entrance? Seal the tunnel?"

"I'll go grab the dynamite!" Grover said excitedly, already halfway out of his seat before Annabeth gestured for him to sit back down.

"Don't you think we already tried that, punk?" Clarisse asked gruffly, crossing her arms over her chest. "Did that to the entrance I found back in Phoenix, but it moved a few feet away from the building I destroyed."

"Clarisse is right," Annabeth agreed. "The Labyrinth's architecture is magical, Percy. We'd need a ton of power to seal one of the entrances. Our best hope is to keep Kyle and his goons from learning to navigate the maze."

"Then we better find Ariadne's string before they do," I said. "Daedalus may still be in his workshop, so if we can convince him to help us, that'll slow Kyle down."

"Just to be clear, we're setting up defenses, right?" Lee Fletcher asked.

"Absolutely," Chiron said. "I'll have the Hephaestus and Hermes cabins set up traps immediately, but if Kyle can bypass the camp's magical borders, I'm afraid we may not have the strength to defeat them."

That statement earned a lot of gasps from the people seated around the table. Even at the bleakest of times, Chiron tried to stay upbeat and hopeful, so hearing him say that we might not stand a chance…well, it was depressing to say the least.

Eventually, Chiron sent Annabeth to visit the Oracle, finally giving the daughter of Athena the chance to lead her own quest – a dream of hers ever since she came to camp. Clarisse had stormed out of the arena after Travis accused her of being too scared to return back into the Labyrinth, leaving the older Stoll brother slightly shaken up.

While we waited for Annabeth to come back, I conversed with Chiron about his conditions about my being in the Labyrinth, but he stood firm in his decision, prohibiting me from going in under any circumstances.

"But I can navigate underground," I protested, still unhappy. "Am I supposed to turn Annabeth down if she asks me to come along?"

Chiron sighed, clearly exhausted of having the same argument over and over again. "Andromeda, I can't spell this out for you any clearer – you are not allowed to enter the Labyrinth, not even if Annabeth requests you as a companion. Stay here to train, go visit Chris Rodriguez in the Big House to help with his insanity, or hang out with your friends here, but I forbid you from going into the Labyrinth."

"What are you so afraid of, Chiron?" I growled, my hands clenching into fists. "If you're afraid of my chronokinesis being the reason I get hurt, then I won't use it. Gods knows I haven't manipulated time in two years." The last time had been a complete accident, preventing Leo from getting run over by a car.

"That's not my only reason."

"Then what else? Why are you keeping me out of the Labyrinth when you-know-who is threatening our home?"

"I will not lose my sister by her own recklessness," Chiron said in a steely voice, revealing how angry he was. "I need you here to help prepare the campers for this upcoming battle. I guarantee you that there will be casualties, but with your help, perhaps we can minimize them."

I blinked twice, unsure of what I was hearing. "I'm sorry, did you just call me-?"

Chiron sighed. "Yes, you heard me correctly. I've known you too long to not acknowledge you correctly, Andy, and gods know you've earned that right. Please, stay to help out. That's the real reason I don't want you going into the Labyrinth."

"We could've avoided this whole fight if you told me this earlier," I said, causing Chiron's face to turn red in embarrassment. "All I ever want to do is help. _That's_ why I was so adamant about going into the Labyrinth."

"Yes, well, I'm glad we've sorted this issue out. Ah, here comes Annabeth."

I returned to my seat, leaning back and waiting for the fallout that would happen as Annabeth recounted her experience with the Oracle.

Gods, I just _love_ prophecies, ugh.


	34. Chapter 34

After Chiron nearly had a coronary once Annabeth picked her companions, the meeting adjourned, and the rest of us went our separate ways.

Well, not all of us, anyways.

The moment the council was over, I told Silena to follow me, earning me a weird look from Beckendorf. He knew I was aware about his crush on Silena, but once I waved him off, he understood that I was keeping my mouth shut and that what I was doing was something else entirely.

Silena was visibly confused, her eyebrows scrunched together and her lips pursed into a fine line. But she nodded anyways, saying, "Lead the way."

We walked over the other side of the arena, standing under the arch of one of the entrances, far away from everyone else. It's not that I didn't trust the people in the arena, but if anyone overheard this conversation, they'd hurt Silena and then lose their trust me.

"What's wrong, Andy?" Silena asked, sounding so genuinely concerned that I realized how the daughter of Aphrodite lasted so long as an undercover spy. If it wasn't for the fact that I'd read the books, I honestly wouldn't have thought Silena was capable of being a traitor.

"I know your secret," I said bluntly, watching as all the color quickly drained from her face.

"About my dad's chocolates?" she asked weakly, but when I shook my head, she paled even more. Silena glanced towards the arena, seeming relieved that the only other people were Percy and Quintus, and they were both too busy talking with each other to pay us any attention.

"More like I know about your extracurricular activities that involve a certain traitorous son of Hermes and his leader."

"I-I don't know what you mean."

"Don't act coy," I scoffed. "Where's the scythe charm? And why are you selling out our secrets?"

"I've never betrayed camp," Silena whimpered, her kaleidoscope eyes brimming with tears.

Don't get me wrong, I like Silena, but I can't stand it when people lie to me. I pushed Silena up against the stone of the arch, keeping her in place with my forearm across her chest and my knees positioned to jab her in the hips if she tried to make a break for it.

"Stop lying, Silena. I'm not going to hurt you or reveal your secret, if you give me that gods-forsaken charm and swear on the River Styx that you'll stop selling us out to Kyle."

"I-I can't do that."

"Why not?"

Although Silena wasn't in any pain – at most, she was uncomfortable, because I wasn't hurting her – she grimaced like she'd just sprained her wrist, a couple of tears rolling down her cheeks. Then those tears turned into full on sobbing, and I backed off, watching as the usually confident daughter of Aphrodite curled in on herself, saying that she was sorry over and over again.

"He'll kill Charlie if I stop," Silena said at last, her voice strained and laced with pain. "He said fewer people would be hurt this way."

"He's lying to you," I told her, handing her some tissues. "He'll use you for information, and the second you're no longer of any use, he'll kill you, Silena. Please, if you give me the charm, I promise that I will kill anything Kyle sends to hurt either Beckendorf or you."

Silena gave a watery laugh. "You're powerful, Andy, but I wouldn't make such rash promises."

"I'm as good as my word, Silena. Please, let me help you."

"Why do you even care? We're not even friends, more like friendly faces in a crowd."

"Because this is my home, and the Olympians, as dysfunctional as they are, are much better rulers in comparison to the Titans. The latter will lay waste to the world, hunting demigods to extinction and using mankind as playthings. I don't know about you, but I don't want to live in that type of world."

Silena appeared absolutely miserable, her face still unnaturally pale with fright while her eyes were bloodshot from crying. She'd tugged at her perfect hair so much that it was starting to frizz up, something I knew many Aphrodite kids would freak out about. Her makeup had started to run from her tears as well, leaving black streaks from her eyeliner and mascara running down her cheeks.

"Okay," Silena whispered. She reached under the sleeve of her shirt, fumbling with something for a few seconds before I saw the silver chain with a scythe charm dangling in the middle. "Here it is. So, you promise to help Charlie and me if Kyle tries to hurt us?"

"I promise."

I took the bracelet and shoved it deep in my pocket, not wanting to look at the charm longer than necessary. It was a slap in the face, honestly, for my father to identify his spies with charms. Unlike mine, his held no power and meant nothing but chaos, while mine were meant to help others or conceal weapons.

"This conversation never happened," I told Silena, handing her some more tissues and a compact mirror. She nodded so quickly I thought she was going to give herself whiplash, before hastily wiping away at her ruined makeup and running as fast as she could away from me.

I pocketed my mirror and walked over to Mrs. O'Leary, giving her a belly rub as she flopped onto her side, causing for the ground to shake underneath her. Being around the world's only friendly hellhound lifted my spirits, distracting me from the somber conversation I'd had moments earlier. I played with Mrs. O'Leary for a little bit longer, tossing a badly dented shield like a Frisbee for her and giving her last summer's dummies to gnaw and drool on.

Eventually I had to go back to my cabin to change into my workout clothes for my hand-to-hand combat class that Chiron had put me in charge of. I knew he was wary of Quintus, so when the old man said he was a swordsman, Chiron hired him as such immediately, even if it meant I had to change activities.

After the initial confusion, I really didn't care, because hand-to-hand combat was just as essential for any demigod to master as it was to learn to wield a weapon correctly and efficiently. And honestly, it could've been much worse. I mean, I had Luke as a training instructor as well, so we'd be able to handle and teach our students correctly.

Luke and I taught three different classes throughout the day, each with its own various skill level. By the end of the day, we were both exhausted and covered in bruises and scrapes that we'd given each other during spars, which we held while the other campers trained.

To make it fair, I didn't use any of my powers, making me realize how grateful I was for them. I was skilled at hand-to-hand combat without my powers – Salina and Artemis had made sure of that – but it was much harder to fight someone like Luke, who never did anything else but train.

That night, I found Percy sitting by the fountain, his face as expressionless as a marble statue as he stared aimlessly at the abalone walls. He was playing with his hands, but other than that, there was no indication that he was aware of anything going on around him.

Tyson hadn't come back from the forges yet, which didn't make much sense. He should've been trying to get some sleep, since he was chosen as a companion for Annabeth's quest. Come to think of it, Percy should've been sleeping, too, but here he was, staring at the wall.

"What's bothering you?" I asked, throwing my sweat soaked clothes into my laundry basket as I tugged on a sweatshirt.

"Hmm?" Percy replied, seeming to break out of his stupor. "Oh, nothing."

 _"_ _Percy."_

"You know, you're worse than Mom when it comes to this type of thing," Percy said in exasperation. "I swear, the both of you have this sixth sense that let you know when I'm lying."

"It's a gift," I chuckled, watching Percy pout. "Now, spill. It's not a good idea to go on a quest with a clouded mind."

"I've been getting these dreams," he confessed. "And alongside Annabeth's prophecy…I can't help but think that this quest is going to end up with someone dying."

"Usually does."

"Wow, that's _so_ encouraging," Percy sassed, making sure to roll his eyes and head so I'd get his message. "Seriously, you're right up there with Chiron in my top ten list of people who give amazing pep talks."

"Okay, okay, sarcasm aside, you know I'm only telling you the truth," I said, not taking any offense to Percy's sass. I'd practically become his older sister, so there was nothing he could really do short of betraying me that would hurt my feelings.

"I know, but that doesn't mean I have to like it." Percy sighed, his hands finally stilling in his lap. "I don't want anyone to die, Andy. No one here at camp deserves to die."

"You're right, Percy. Everyone here is amazing and unique, but sadly, we can't prevent all deaths. We're going to war against one of the cruelest beings to ever exist. He doesn't care about hurting us, because we're the only thing keeping him from taking Olympus."

"Because I wasn't aware of that already. Just another thing I need to worry about."

I pinched the bridge of my nose. "Percy, this isn't some burden you bear alone. We're all here, and for better or worse, we're going to fight. Don't you dare feel responsible for anything that's about to happen."

"But I should!" Percy shouted, abruptly standing up, his hands clenched into fists at his side. "If I hadn't been born, none of this would be happening! He would still be in the pit, and Olympus wouldn't be in danger of falling!"

"That's not true," I argued, watching as Percy turned his back to me. "This was prophesized over seventy years ago, meaning even if you'd never been born, this would still come to pass. Hell, it should've come to pass four years ago with Thalia, but she got turned into a tree because of Hades and Zeus." I stopped myself before I could accidently say anything about my involvement in that. "My point being, Percy, is that we'll stand by you when the war begins."

"Why would anyone follow me? You or Annabeth or Luke would be a better leader; you've been training most of your lives. Me, I just started three years ago. Why me?"

"Because you have the purest heart of anyone I've ever met," I said truthfully, placing a hand on Percy's shoulder. "I would follow you to the ends of the Earth."

* * *

Annabeth, Percy, Tyson, and Grover left at dawn the next morning. Luke, Chiron, Juniper, Quintus, and I all went to wish them luck before they disappeared into the crack within Zeus's Fist.

The second they were gone, Juniper began to cry, green tears staining her cheeks. While I comforted the crying nymph, the rest of our little party disbanded. I could've sworn I saw Chiron shooting Quintus curious glances, but with all the morning fog, it was possible I was mistaken.

When I finally left Zeus's Fist, I decided to mist-travel back into camp proper, wanting to avoid the traps the Hephaestus kids were whipping up. James and Beckendorf had brought out some tents for their cabin mates as they worked on digging trenches, building traps, and placing spikes into the ground. They also served as the guards meant to watch the pile of rocks, armed with giving us the signal should anything suspicious start happening.

I met up with Luke later on, discussing plans for our combat class, when suddenly my phone began to ring.

"Is that-?" Luke gasped, and I put a finger to my lips, telling him to shut up before he announced it to the whole camp that I had a forbidden phone.

"It's monster-proof," I told him, ducking into the space between cabins one and three, frowning at the words _Unknown Number_ that blinked on my screen. Hephaestus had told me that only the gods could contact me via my phone, but apparently, that was no longer the case.

"Hello?" I asked, accepting the call.

"ANDY!" someone shouted, and I had to pull my phone away from my ear to prevent permanent hearing loss. "What's up, sister?"

Absolute horror flooded my body. _"Pete?"_ I asked in shock, the blood draining from my face. "How the hell did you get this number?"

"You're not an easy person to find, A, but I did it anyways!"

"Answer the question," I snapped, ignoring Luke's worried expression as he stared at my phone like I'd brought cocaine into camp. "How did you find me?"

"I minor in engineering and computer sciences, remember?" Pete pointed out. I bit back a curse. "Plus, I have a friend who's a whiz with computers, so when I told him about your phone, he was really excited to put his skills to the test."

"Okay, so you're friends with a hacker, great. Now, why are you calling? I'm kind of in the middle of something right now."

"Is this a bad time? 'Cause I'll call back if you need me to."

I internally sighed. "It's fine, Pete. So, what's up?"

"Well, you know how I told you about my other friends from back home?"

"Patrick and Andy?"

"Exactly! Anyways, they came to visit, and I'd like you to meet them. Plus, Andy's a single pringle ready to mingle."

"You're worse than Joe," I groaned, slamming my head back against cabin three. "I don't want a boyfriend. And as much as I'd love to meet your friends, I'm kind of busy right now."

"Doing what?" Pete asked, sounding hurt that I'd turned down his invitation. "You're never around anymore, Andy. I miss hanging out with you."

"So do I, but things are…complicated, to say the least. I'll visit when I can, Pete."

"Which will be…?"

"To be determined." I looked up, watching Luke tap at his wrist like he was wearing a watch and mouthing the words, "Our class." I paled and checked the time, realizing that we still had to set up the training mats and gloves in under five minutes. "Okay, I really need to go, Pete. But do me a favor, let me reach out to you first next time."

"Why?"

"Bye, Pete."

I hung up, silencing my phone and slipping it back into my bag before converting it back into a charm. I'd check the phone's circuit board later, because there is no way Pete should've been able to get ahold of my number.

"How'd you get a phone?" Luke asked as I deposited us outside of the arena via mist, giving us three minutes to set up before our first class showed up.

"Gift from the gods," I said, throwing the mats across the floor in a haphazard mess. I'd fix them in a second, but I needed to get the other twenty-something of them out of storage.

"Seems more like a suicide device than a gift."

"That's why Hephaestus encrypted it – to keep monsters from tracking me. But my friend shouldn't have been able to call me. I was told only gods could contact my phone."

Luke dropped the gloves he was holding. "You were talking to a mortal?!"

I rolled my eyes at his overreaction. "Yes, I made mortal friends while at college. Why is everyone so surprised about that? I can be friendly, you know."

"Yeah, but you're kind of intimidating – no offense."

"None taken." I kicked the mats into position. "Now, will you please stop freaking out about my life outside of camp and focus on our class? The kids are here."

"Fine, but this conversation isn't over yet."

"Whatever you say, Luke." I bent down to help Luke pick up the gloves he dropped, taking two for myself and strapping them on. I turned to our students, ten in total, all under the age of thirteen. "Welcome to hand-to-hand combat."

* * *

I cursed as I ran into a wall, overshooting my landing as I appeared in the middle of an alleyway by Goode High School. Chiron had told me about Percy's mishap during freshman orientation and sent me to fix it.

"But, I thought," I'd said, bewildered that someone was actually asking me to use my chronokinesis for once.

"No more smothering of your powers," Chiron had promised me, giving me the address of the school. "We'll need everything at our disposal, and that includes your time manipulation."

Just to make sure, I'd sent Apollo a quick text asking if I could use my powers, and he replied with a thumbs up emoji. I was going to assume that he asked the council, but if he didn't, oh well. I'd deal with it later.

Outside the perimeter of the school was a guard detail of four cops, one at each corner. There were two more cops standing by a massive hole in the wall, yellow tape blocking off the majority of sidewalk.

From where I was standing, I could see inside of the band room. The window was completely shattered, and scorch marks littered the interior walls and tiled floor. Glass glittered on the sidewalk like millions of diamonds, but the cops didn't seem to mind, standing right by the hole with their arms crossed over their bullet proof vests.

I didn't want to hurt them, but I was definitely going to need to get these cops away from the school if I was going to fix the band room using my powers. But the only feasible way was to do it from the inside, posing as a teacher or a student.

An idea immediately formed in my mind. I'd have hell to pay from Percy later on, but hopefully he'd understand why I did this.

I needed to contact Rachel Elizabeth Dare.

0o0o

For the daughter of such a successful business man, Rachel was surprisingly easy to find. She was outside of the Marriot Marquis, hunched over a sign-up table that read: URBAN ART FOR KIDS VOLUNTEER SIGN-UP. There were a couple other kids behind her, excited to sign up.

I watched her from a nearby lamppost, casually glancing up from my phone every once in a while without blowing my cover. But Rachel was extremely attentive, looking over her shoulder every few seconds, like she was afraid she was being followed.

Technically, she was being followed by me, but the way that she guarded herself made it seem like she was expecting to be kidnapped by an enemy of her father's or some creepy person that was into human trafficking.

That look of fear in her piercing green eyes seemed to disappear the moment she saw me. I was wearing sunglasses, but I knew that she could tell I was watching her even though I was staring at the hotel instead.

Rachel walked over, twirling her blue hairbrush in her hand before stopping next to me. She fished out a pair of sunglasses from her paint-splattered bag and put them on.

"Why are you following me?" she asked levelly, calmly taking her phone out and scrolling through her emails like nothing was out of the ordinary.

"Because Percy needs your help."

I saw her hesitate, her fingers stilling over her keyboard as she'd been searching something. I'd clearly thrown Rachel for a loop, which could play in my favor if I was careful.

"I don't know who you're talking about," Rachel lied easily, returning her attention back to her phone.

I opened up my photos app, glad that I could still take pictures on my phone even if I couldn't use it to call my friends. I quickly pulled up a picture of Percy and I at Montauk last summer, a trip we'd taken after we'd come back from the Sea of Monsters.

"You two met at the Hoover Dam last December, didn't you? He accidently slashed at you with his sword when you were blowing your nose?"

Rachel paled, her freckles standing out like a case of bad acne against her skin. "How did you know that?"

"Percy told me. I'm his aunt, after all."

"But you're so young!" Rachel blurted out.

"Not for a half-blood," I commented, which made Rachel choke on air. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, fine." Rachel coughed until she could breathe normally again. "So, you're really like Percy? Who's your godly parent, then?"

I winced. "I have a Titan for a father, but don't worry about that right now. Look, Percy needs your help."

"Then he should call me," Rachel flippantly said, tucking her phone into her bag. "I gave him my phone number."

"Yeah, well, demigods avoid phones as much as possible. They're like sending up flares for monsters and asking them to rearrange our faces."

Rachel glanced down at the phone I was holding in my hand. "But you-?"

"I'm an interesting case," I interrupted. "Anyhow, I need your help to go fix Goode High School. That's why I'm here."

She crossed her arms over her chest. "I thought you said Percy needs my help."

"He does. I need to fix Goode, or he's going to be expelled before the school year even starts."

Rachel was silent for a three count. Then she sighed and began to brush her frizzy red hair, eventually ending up pulling it back into a ponytail. "Fine, I'll help. But I have one condition."

"Name it."

"I want you to explain everything to me."

"Done," I said, watching as Rachel's mouth made an O shape in surprise. "Now, let's go break into high school."

* * *

My backup plan had been to knock out the guards and tie them up somewhere while I fixed the band room. But Rachel's plan was much better. After a quick stop at the thrift store and two phone calls, she arranged for the two of us to get a tour of the school from Paul Blofis, who had witnessed Percy escaping from the band room.

Although the two of us hadn't met, I knew about Paul from the books, Percy, and Sally. I knew he was a good man and would make an amazing stepfather to Percy in the future, but for the time being, he was in the dark about all the mythological craziness.

Speaking of which, Rachel seemed to take all the information so well. I answered her questions while she handed me a black lanyard, saying that I'd need that to be let into the school. She slipped her own lanyard over her head, her picture showing her fiery red hair in all its glory.

"What about the photo?" I asked her, gesturing to the blank card she'd attached to the end of the lanyard.

"Can't you control the – what did Percy call it? – Mist? I don't think Mr. Blofis is clear sighted like me."

"Oh, yeah," I said sheepishly, rubbing the back of my neck in embarrassment. I waved a hand over the card, my picture shimmering onto the card. If I squinted my eyes, I could see through the Mist, but Rachel looked at me expectantly, asking, "Well, can you?"

"Already done."

She didn't seem convinced, but she shrugged her shoulders and led me to the front of the school anyways. After showing the secretary our school I.D.'s, we met up with Paul Blofis outside the office, where he was holding two pamphlets that read _Goode is Good_ on the front.

"Welcome back, Miss Dare," he said respectfully, shaking Rachel's hand and handing her one of the pamphlets. Then he turned to me. "And you are?"

"Andy Collins. Nice to meet you, sir." I shook his hand and also received one of the pamphlets.

Paul led Rachel and me around the school, telling us about Goode's history. Apparently, Goode had been around for eighteen years and had some of the best sports teams in the city of Manhattan. The only team that was doing poorly was the swim team, which I knew would be fixed when Percy started attending school here in the fall.

Eventually, Paul led us to the band room. Well, to the hallway that led to the band room, anyways. The entire hallway was blocked off with more yellow tape, but there were no guards, and I could easily take out the security cameras.

I gave Rachel a look, and she began to ask about Goode's art programs. The good news, the art department was on the other side of the school. I waited for Paul to turn his back to me before placing my hand on the fire alarm, sending a quick burst of electricity into the wiring.

Sure enough, the alarm began to sound, causing for the emergency lights to flash as well. I shot two more energy blasts through some outlets in the wall, watching as the red rings in the security cameras died, letting me know that they had been fried.

By the time Paul noticed I was gone, I'd already mist-traveled to the band room. The two cops that had been standing guard outside had come in, their hands already on their guns as they watched me appear in front of them.

"What the he-" one of the cops asked, but before he could finish his sentence, I knocked both the cops out by throwing tubas at their heads. I then dragged the cops back outside, careful to not cut them with the glass shards before darting back into the band room.

I glanced over my shoulder, making sure the door was locked behind me before I started. Once I was sure I was clear, I held my hands out, feeling a rush of adrenaline pour through me as my fingertips tingled with the pins-and-needles sensation after not using this power in so long.

It didn't take long to fix the wall – approximately forty-seven seconds – but I was sweating bullets afterwards, an effect from not training my power in two years. When I'd been serving Olympus, I could reverse up to thirty minutes without breaking a sweat, but like any muscle, a power could return back to its normal state without the appropriate training.

I wiped my sweat away with the back of my hand before mist-traveling back to Rachel's side, where a very confused and worried Paul Blofis was standing over the school's security guard, demanding for him to go over the security camera footage again.

"Mr. Blofis?" I asked, watching as he practically jumped out of his skin as he turned to face me. Rachel bit back a laugh, hiding her smile behind her hand.

"Miss Collins!" Paul exclaimed, relief flooding his expression. "Where have you been?"

"I had to use the bathroom, and I saw one next to the band room. When I came out, the fire alarm was going off, and you were nowhere to be seen."

"Oh, my apologies, then." Paul blushed down to his Adam's apple. "Would you like to see the rest of the school?"

I smiled, aware of the fact that I was still playing the role of an incoming freshman. "I'd love that, Mr. Blofis."

I spent the rest of my afternoon with Rachel after Paul finished giving us a tour of Goode, which she used to bombard me with even more questions about the gods, but she also asked a lot about Percy. I told her what she wanted to know about the gods but didn't divulge much about Percy. If she wanted to know more about him, she'd have to wait until they were face to face.

I was supposed to come back to Camp Half-Blood after fixing Goode High School, but there was this nagging feeling in the back of my mind that was telling me to go to the beach. Maybe Poseidon was calling me while being too proud to use my phone.

So, after saying goodbye to Rachel, I vanished into mist, heading for Montauk.


	35. Chapter 35

The moment my feet touched the heated sand, I knew something was wrong. The waves were slamming against the shoreline with such vengeance that it was a wonder that the sand dunes were still standing. The wind made my hair repeatedly slap my face while also kicking up clouds of sand, blurring my vision.

After my eyes started to burn from the amount of sand in the air, I put my sunglasses back on, glad that they provided enough of a barrier that I didn't need to squint. I walked towards the water, tucking my shoes away into my bag so that they didn't get soaked.

But the moment my feet touched the ocean, I jumped back, cursing under my breath as I felt like someone had poured acid on me. My feet and ankles were bright red and covered in blisters, something that reminded me of the time that one of my classmates dumped hydrochloric acid onto a skin graft, and before the acid ate away a hole in the graft, it turned red and was covered in blisters.

However, this wasn't hydrochloric acid, because the effects were already disappearing by my stepping away from the water.

Frowning, I stooped down and picked up a smooth stone, the kind that was perfect for skipping, and chucked it into the ocean. I barely had enough time to duck before the same rock was flung back at me, lodging itself into a wooden stake that had been set up as a part of protection for a turtle nest.

"Okay, Poseidon," I muttered under my breath, tying my hair back into a tighter ponytail. "What's going on?"

I received my answer in the form of half a dozen serpentine creatures darting out of the waves. They were an inky blue color, the same shade as the darkest depths of the ocean, each about two feet long. And while I could deal with sea snakes any day of the week, these weren't your typical Sea Kraits or Coral Reef Snakes.

Each snake had this set of horns on them, but they looked more like they'd accidently skewered themselves on a piece of sharp metal, then their bodies grew around the foreign body instead of appearing like horns that you'd see on something like the Minotaur.

I summoned Epithymia, backing up as the serpents approached. Then, when one of them got too close, I slashed downward, hoping to cut off its head. Imagine my surprise when this thing leaped up and wrapped itself around the edge of my blade, spitting a bright green liquid at my wrist.

I screamed as I felt its poison land on my skin, the smell of my burning flesh flooding my nostrils. The other snakes, which I now recognized as Cerastae, took my moment of weakness as a chance to attack.

Right before the remaining five could burn me with their poison or bite me, I lit myself on fire, the only thing that could defeat Cerastae. I allowed my flames to race down my blade, causing the Cerastes wrapped around Epithymia to hiss in pain and flop into a dark blue puddle of goo on the sand.

I shot out a steady stream of fire until I was sure that the Cerastae were all gone, stopping the second the last snake disintegrated into gold dust. I then collapsed onto my knees, my energy having been severely drained from my wrist wound.

The skin around my wrist was starting to turn green and bubble, the tell-tale signs of poison. I swore under my breath as I rummaged around for my flask of nectar, biting down on a roll of gauze as I poured some nectar over the wound.

This was some pretty potent poison, even more painful than touching the River Acheron, which is saying something since that river is the literal personification of pain. Yeah, let's just say learning to navigate the Underworld took some getting used to at first.

Capping my flask of nectar, I took the gauze from my mouth and soaked it in the ocean, sighing in relief that the water no longer burned like it had earlier. I then wrapped my wrist, which was still a sight for sore eyes, to prevent infection. From what I could see, the water wasn't doing much in terms of healing, serving more as a way to dull the throbbing pain that was still left behind from the poison.

As I grew accustomed to the pain in my wrist, I looked around, realizing that the wind and the waves seemed to die down altogether. The sun beamed down overhead, shining on a perfectly still ocean that had transformed from a murky mess to completely see through, like a pool.

"What the hell?" I asked, touching the water once again. Either I'd witnessed Poseidon in an extremely bipolar moment, or this was Oceanus' doing.

"I believe I can explain," someone said, and I just about incinerated them.

A man had suddenly appeared in the ocean, his skin a light shade of green, reminding me of Juniper. But this was a softer green, more turquoise than the chlorophyll that ran through nymphs' veins. He had jet black hair, long enough that it was tied back into a ponytail at the nape of his neck.

But what stood out to me the most was the fact that I could only see the upper half of his body, and that was covered in bronze armor that was studded with multiple pearls. Around his neck was a conch shell on a necklace of seaweed, something that gave me a hint to his true identity.

It was the trident insignia on his vambraces that really gave him away, though. That, and I'd waded deep enough into the water that I'd seen his two tails instead of legs.

"Lord Triton," I said, inclining my head for a moment before looking back up. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"

The son of Poseidon seemed slightly surprised that I'd recognized him so quickly. I guess Poseidon had kept my presence a secret when I trained with him at his underwater palace. We usually trained on Olympus, but sometimes, we'd spend the week in the ocean, which I loved seeing that I was stuck on Olympus the majority of the time when I'd been training.

"Father requests your presence. Something about wanting a second opinion from Olympus' favored demigod." Triton sounded bitter and hurt flashed in his cerulean blue eyes, but I refused to let some god's ego hurt my feelings.

"Okay, give me a second." I turned Epithymia and my bag back into their charms, ignoring Triton's look of awe as he watched my things disappear onto my bracelet. "Alright, I'm ready."

"Follow me. And try to keep up."

Triton dove under the water, darting off in the distance. I rolled my eyes at his childishness and took off as well, using the currents to keep me next to the sea prince.

While I had grown accustomed to the grandeur of Olympus, Atlantis still took my breath away every time I visited. I hadn't come by in over four years, spending my eighteenth birthday here and then never having the time to drop by again.

The palace was as big as the city on Olympus, with wide courtyards, gardens, and columned pavilions. The gardens were sculpted wit coral colonies and glowing sea plants. Twenty or thirty buildings were made of abalone, white but gleaming with rainbow colors. Fish and octopi darted in and out of the windows. The pathways were lines with glowing pearls like strings of Christmas lights.

The main courtyard was filled with warriors – mermen with fish tails from the waist down and human bodies from the waist up, except their skin was blue. Only the royal family and the Nereids had green skin. Some were tending the wounded, while others sharpened spears and swords.

Anti-siege weapons and fortifications were being built outside the palace walls – catapults, watch towers, bunkers, and the like. From up here, I could make out blasts of energy being exchanged, but it wasn't serious enough for more than a dozen warriors to be sent out at a time.

"The siege is beginning, isn't it?" I asked Triton, who stopped to glare at me.

He pointed at the abalone buildings beneath us, which housed the common merfolk, those who couldn't or wouldn't participate in the war effort. I could see little merchildren playing in the coral reefs while their parents watched them, trying to ignore the sounds of construction that surrounded the entirety of the palace.

"Father has evacuated all civilians to the palace," Triton explained, gesturing for me to follow him through one of the windows. We swam through a corridor, waiting for the geyser to shoot us up to the next level. "He thinks it'll keep them safer as we face Oceanus."

"You haven't answered my question," I pointed out, the geyser blowing moments later.

"Yes, the siege is underway, but I couldn't say anything so close to the public." Triton tapped at the trident on his vambrace, causing for one to appear in his hand. "It'll cause panic, something Father is trying to keep contained for the time being."

"That doesn't make much sense. When the fighting begins, won't that only cause more panic, since people are closer to the line of fire?"

"That's what I said! But Father refused to send his subjects somewhere else for refuge." Triton swam forward and pushed open the pearly doors. "Welcome to the throne room, Andromeda."

Triton swam off to stand, err, float next to a dolphin, Delphin, and his mother, Amphitrite. There were two other mermen as well, all of whom deferred to the man sitting in the throne, who was hunched over a weathered map with various clay figures there, like they were all playing a game of D and D.

Poseidon gave orders to Delphin, Triton, and the other mermen, before they swam out of the throne room, leaving behind a trail of bubbles. Amphitrite stared at the map for a moment more before taking a seat to the right of Poseidon, entwining her hand in his own.

"We'll be prepared, dear," Amphitrite cooed, tracing circles on the back of Poseidon's hand with her thumb.

"I'm afraid it won't be enough," Poseidon admitted, seeming to age ten years in ten seconds. His black hair and beard were immediately laced with streaks of gray, showing his true emotions about the upcoming war.

"Lord Poseidon? Lady Amphitrite?" I asked, kneeling in front of the king and queen of the sea.

"Hello, Andromeda," Amphitrite said warmly, neither disapproving nor excited to see me. It was more like she just accepted the fact that I was here but wasn't going to do anything about it. She wasn't as cold as Percy described her to be; then again, I wasn't a result of Poseidon's infidelity, so she couldn't hate me for that reason.

"Welcome back, Andy," Poseidon said, trying for a smile. In reality, it came out as a grimace. "I hope that Triton made your journey here pleasant."

"He did, thank you. But if this meeting was so urgent, why didn't you just call me?" I tapped my bracelet, reminding him of the gift Hephaestus had given me, something the god had presented during the summer solstice in front of all the other gods.

Poseidon blushed, earning a light slap on the arm from his wife. "I forgot about that, honestly."

I shrugged. "I don't blame you. Demigods and technology don't mix well."

Amphitrite scrunched her eyebrows together. "I thought you were a demititan?"

"She prefers the term demigod," Poseidon said, having noticed that I'd clenched my jaw. I could call Kronos father, but I hated being called a demititan. The kids at camp used it in such a derogatory and offensive way that I didn't want to be associated with the term. "Another way to spite our father, she says."

"So, what is this second opinion Triton says you're in need of?" I asked, wanting to switch the subject immediately.

"Ah, yes." Poseidon glanced over at Amphitrite, who was now glowering at her husband, her lips pressed together in a fine line. She smacked him again, this time on the back of the head and with a little more force. She then hopped down from her throne and disappeared in a vortex of bubbles. "Before we get to that, I want you to tell me about the Cerastae you faced before you got here."

I glanced down at my bandaged wrist, rubbing it the entire time as I recounted my fight with the sea snakes. Poseidon nodded along as he listened, his eyes focused on my wrist the whole time. He kept staring even after I'd finished my story.

"I'm sorry, is there something seriously wrong with my wrist that you keep looking at it like that?" I asked, fingering the edge of the gauze.

"Hmm? Oh, no, Cerastae poison isn't fatal to anything that inherits power from fire, usually. But especially not on the wrist."

I rolled my eyes. "Thanks for _that_ reassurance."

"You're very lucky, Andy," Poseidon continued motioning for me to approach him. I willed the water to push me up to where he was sitting on his throne. He gestured for my bandaged wrist, and after a moment's hesitation, I held out my hand. "Now, I may not be as good as this as Apollo, but it will still help."

He unwrapped the gauze and pressed a finger onto the burned area, causing me to wince. Then a light blue glow surrounded my wrist until most of the poison had been healed, only leaving behind slightly reddened skin.

"I haven't seen the Cerastae around in centuries," Poseidon continued. "They're so ancient, I've almost forgotten about them. It's a good thing you inherited Hestia's fire power, or I'm afraid you would've died from the venom overload. You know that one Cerastes bite has enough venom to kill fifteen people?"

I paled and swallowed a lump in my throat. "How lovely. Now, can you please tell me why I'm here?"

"Yes, the reason I asked Triton to retrieve you." Poseidon leaned back into his throne, shutting his eyes. Something roared overhead, and moments later, a large squid, easily the size of a school bus, tried to descend into the throne room. Poseidon didn't even open his eyes, shooting off a blast from his trident, turning the squid into a thousand terrified sardines.

I felt a sinking feeling in my stomach, the kind that made me worried about what Poseidon had called me down here for.

"I want you to stay and fight alongside me in the battle with Oceanus."

* * *

I was still shell-shocked when I made it back to camp, ignoring everyone in favor of hiding inside the Poseidon cabin. No one was in it anyways, since Percy and Tyson were still on the quest inside the Labyrinth.

Salt water completely soaked the floor, a result of Percy killing the fountain in the corner the night before his quest. Even though that had been four days ago, I'd always been so exhausted at the end of the day that I hadn't noticed the water.

While I dried the floor, I pondered over Poseidon's offer.

I had a duty here at Camp Half-Blood: to train campers to be as prepared as they could be in hand-to-hand combat. Not to mention, I trained with some of the older campers one-on-one in whatever style they wanted to improve in before dinner time. I mean, Chiron had been willing to have me angry at him to keep me at camp, so I knew just how desperate the situation was.

Not to mention that there was going to be a massive attack in the camp in anywhere between three weeks and a month, and I needed to be here when it happened. While I knew camp would survive without me, I'd look like the biggest traitor/coward in the world if I didn't help.

But Poseidon's offer was slightly tempting, too.

I'd been dying to help out in the war efforts ever since Kyle had a real army, since last December. I'd even sent an Iris-message to Zeus and Athena, asking if I could be an undercover spy, but they both thought the idea was too reckless and dangerous and that I could only help out via the camps.

And while I enjoyed training campers, there were some days that I wanted to bash my brains out when I had to repeat instructions ten times because the kids wouldn't listen. And it wasn't the ADHD, it was that they genuinely didn't want to train, something I still haven't completely wrapped my head around.

I liked fighting, and I was good at it. But was that enough to convince me to leave camp behind for the rest of the year?

Thankfully for me, Poseidon told me that he didn't need an answer until after attack on camp, knowing how much this place meant to Percy, Tyson, and me. For as much as he was an absent father, Poseidon cared about his children and only wanted them to be safe. Or as safe as a demigod and Cyclops can be.

But if Poseidon was really this desperate for help, why didn't he ask Percy instead? Not that I had anything against the sea god, but personally, I'd prefer having my child fight alongside me as a morale boost. Then again, I wasn't a god or a parent, so I guess I really wasn't qualified to make that kind of decision.

I finally left my cabin around six, right around when dinner was about to start. However, I didn't have much of an appetite and instead headed for the Big House, remembering that I'd seen Chris Rodriguez writhing in pain the last time I saw him.

I wasn't Mr. D by a longshot, but maybe I could help with the madness just a little. I mean, I didn't get to use Hera's powers all the often, so this would be interesting. The inner scientist in me was excited, but I reminded myself that this was a fellow demigod who'd been driven to insanity, not some lab rat that I could experiment on.

Unsurprisingly, I found Clarisse sitting next to Chris, her hand firmly clasped around his, the both of them fast asleep. Dark circles were under Clarisse's eyes, making me wonder when was the last time she'd gotten any sleep. Chris wasn't much better off, his face contorted as if he were in pain as he slept, his eyes darting back and forth under his eyelids, signaling a dream.

I found a spare blanket on the countertop and draped it over Clarisse's shoulders, careful not to wake the sleeping daughter of Ares. If you thought Nico was terrifying after being woken up, you clearly haven't faced Clarisse's wrath. The last camper that woke up Clarisse reeked of toilet water for a week afterwards. At least with Nico you could fight off the skeletons.

"Mary, _NO!"_ Chris shouted, jolting from the bed with a start. He frantically glanced around the room, his eyes glazed over with indescribable terror as his fingers dug into the mattress, holding on for dear life.

Clarisse woke up instantly, frowning slightly as she watched Chris start babbling on about someone named Mary. "My name's Clarisse," she said, her voice impossibly soft as she retracted her hand back to her side. "You're safe now. Please, just hang on until Mr. D comes back."

"Mary, stay away from him! The son of Poseidon – he's horrible, Mary!"

"Percy's not going to hurt you," Clarisse reassured him. "He's not even here."

"The earth heals him!" Chris wailed, burying his face into his knees. He then started banging his head against his legs, like he was trying to knock himself out using only his patellae. "You can't defeat him! Mary, run! Mary? _MARY!"_

Chris then started sobbing hysterically, mumbling, "No," repeatedly under his breath, rocking back and forth on his bed. Clarisse was biting her bottom lip, trying hard not to cry at the sight of the broken son of Hermes. She'd had a crush on Chris for the past three years but never made a move, and now she was probably cursing herself for waiting so long.

"Can I help?" I asked Clarisse, watching as she jumped in her seat, her hand already closed around her spear, which had been on the floor next to her.

"Unless you can cure madness, I don't think so," Clarisse spat, vehemently pressing her palms against her eyes. She sniffed once and set her spear back down, pulling the blanket tighter around her shoulders. "I can only hope that he holds on until Mr. D comes back."

"I can't cure madness," I said sadly, "but I can affect memories. Maybe I could bring up a happy moment here at camp, you know, to help him remember? It may ground him for the time being."

Clarisse glanced back towards Chris, who was now attempting to rip his hair from his scalp. She stood up and gently pulled his hands back down to his lap, holding them so that he couldn't go back to hurting himself.

"Do it," she said, clearly swallowing her pride as she did. "Just, don't hurt him, please."

I nodded and walked next to Chris, placing my hands on both of his temples. Then, I gasped, instantly transported into his mind.

Hera had spent years training me in this power, as it was the only thing that I inherited from her. She was determined to make me a master of walking through memories, and now, I was finally putting that training to use.

The inside of Chris's mind was a mess, but that was to be expected from someone suffering from insanity. See, a sane person's memories tended to be on a timeline, starting from the first memory they retained up until the present. That being said, it meant that most people's minds were pretty organized, and at most, the timeline would only branch five or six times, depicting that person's most cherished memories.

Inside of Chris's mind, the timeline had completely shattered, leaving behind blobs of memory-matter everywhere, like little portals into different parts of his mind. For example, I was standing over a memory of Chris doing homework, while there was a memory of Chris talking to Kyle on the ceiling.

After shoving through hundreds of memories, I found the moment where Chris had gone insane inside the Labyrinth. He was already delirious from dehydration and exhaustion, his eyes wild like those of a hunted animal while he clutched onto his sword, continuing to stumble forward through the Labyrinth.

Chris then entered a circular room, the entrance which he'd come through no longer there when he tried to retrace his steps. The only other exit was on the other side, but standing in the middle of the room was a ghostly girl, her skin paler than freshly fallen snow, a black dress hanging loosely from her skeletal frame. Her eyes were sunken in as if only her eye sockets were left behind, but I could clearly make out bright red irises. Her light brown hair was braided with daisies, giving her an air of innocence that starkly contrasted against the malignant aura she was emitting.

"Mary?" Chris had asked, his voice hoarse from lack of use and water.

"The one and only," the girl, Mary, sneered, walking soundlessly towards Chris. She stopped until she was a few inches in front of him, cocking her head to the side and observing him like a kid who'd just gotten a new toy. "I see you're doing well."

"How are you here?" Chris's face tightened with anger, strengthening the grip on the pommel of his sword. "I thought you were dead."

"Oh, I am," Mary confirmed. "I was sent to torment you for your pathetic failure. Failing to keep your little sister safe? How could you?"

"I-I offered myself up. He said you wouldn't be hurt."

"He lied!" Mary screeched, the torches around the room flaring up in response to her anger. "Because of your cowardice, I was torn apart, used as a peace offering to let your friends through! I wasn't like you, brother, yet you used me just as those gods of yours use you and your demigod friends. I thought you were supposed to be better than them!"

"We are," Chris promised. "We're going to build the world from scratch, one where there is no more war or needless suffering. The gods will fall and-"

Mary threw her head back and gave a bitter laugh. "How could you be so blind, brother? You are still a pawn, whether you know it or not."

"That's not true!"

"Soon, you will see that I'm right. But in the meantime, you are going to suffer just as I have."

Mary then walked right through Chris, vanishing through the wall behind him. He whirled around, looking for his sister before he fell to his knees, a horrible cry ripping itself free from his throat as the room began to violently shake, the torches extinguishing all at once.

" _SUFFER!"_ Mary's voice echoed around the room while Chris kept screaming his head off.

Once the shaking died down and the torches lit up, Chris staggered onto his feet, swaying back and forth as he tried to regain his balance. At first glance, you'd think he was perfectly fine. But then I saw his eyes, seeing the same impenetrable terror glazed over his hazel irises that he was still wearing – the sign of _mania_ induced insanity.

I pulled myself out of that memory and quickly began searching for something happier. As I sifted through other memories, I realized how strong Chris must've been to still be clinging on. _Mania_ induced insanity was the second strongest form of mental punishment that's ever been recorded, the first strongest being a curse directly from Mr. D. It's amazing that Chris wasn't catatonic at the moment.

Finally, I found a memory of Chris sitting by Clarisse at one of our campfires. The two of them were shooting each other furtive glances, trying not to get caught by the other. However, the two of them locked eyes for a split second, causing for Chris to blush and Clarisse to smile smugly, like she'd just won a competition.

I touched the edges of that memory, forcing it to solidify in my hands as I walked to where Chris's timeline was supposed to be. Although the memories had exploded everywhere, the timeline was still intact, just out of commission.

I placed the memory at the end of the timeline, shutting my eyes as I channeled some of my own memories and emotions about some of the best campfires we'd ever had, which would strengthen Chris's.

Once I heard the distinct _click_ of the memory locking into place, I withdrew my hands from Chris's face, stumbling back into the wall as the world spun. Yeah, side effects of memory manipulation included severe vertigo, which was another reason that I didn't use this power all that much. Plus, having to have my hands on the person was a severe downside.

But, if I really had to, I could bring up that person's worst memories with a simple touch. The only reason I entered Chris's mind was to fix a portion of his timeline, but for a sane person, I could bring up any memory so long as I was touching them. Still, I didn't think it was worth the vertigo afterwards.

While I leaned against the wall to keep from falling over, I heard Chris say, "Clarisse?"

"Yes?" the daughter of Ares replied earnestly, sounding extremely hopeful.

"She makes me happy," he continued, sounding much more relaxed than he had been a few minutes ago. "I didn't want to leave her, but I was tired. So tired."

Finally, I wasn't seeing double anymore. I saw Clarisse mouth, "Thank you," before returning her attention to Chris. I smiled in response, wincing slightly at the throbbing I felt in my temples. Ugh, I hated headaches.

I left the Big House, running right into Cleo as I made my way towards the amphitheater. Her eyes were red and puffy from crying, and tear streaks were left behind on her cheeks. Her usually neat blonde hair was a rat's nest, pulled back into a messy ponytail. Dirt and blood covered Cleo's clothing, instantly putting me on high alert.

"Cleo," I said, holding her in place by her shoulders. "What's wrong?"

Another wave of tears started streaming down her face, her breath coming out in short hiccups as she struggled to breathe. She wrapped her arms tightly around my waist, burying her face into my shirt.

All she said was, "Andy, I'm going to die."


	36. Chapter 36

I was standing on the beach for the second time that day, impatiently tapping my foot as I waited for my visitors to show up. In the eight years that I'd been a demigod, I'd never met my employers, my _true_ employers, but that was finally going to change tonight.

I didn't know whether to be relieved or extremely worried that the Fates had accepted my invitation so easily. The three ladies didn't even argue, simply telling me the time and place of where I needed to be if I was going to speak with them.

Unlike earlier, the ocean was completely still, the moonlight making the surface glimmer like a shard of broken glass. Even at night, I could still smell the strawberries in the fields, their sweet aroma permeating through the air like perfume. The trees were perfectly still, too, making it seem as if I were in a scene of a movie or in a postcard rather than having to deal with one of the most tumultuous things I've ever had to encounter.

I'd rather fight Kronos himself than have to be the one to nail the final coffin in Cleo's hope, ending any chance of her surviving the next battle.

It took me the majority of the campfire that night to calm Cleo down, assuring her that for the time being, she was fine. Never mind the fact that I could hear my pulse roaring in my ears like war drums as I soothed my best friend, feeling like the world's biggest liar.

How could I say that she would be fine when I knew exactly, in painstaking detail, what was going to happen? I didn't know why Morpheus decided to plague me with that accursed nightmare for over a month, but if I ever saw his face, he'd end up with a dagger sticking out of his forehead like a unicorn horn.

"Don't go after the dream god," I heard Clotho say, which spooked me so badly that I instinctively threw the stone I'd been tossing in my hand at the Fates.

The middle Fate, Lachesis, caught the stone in her bony hand and dropped it back onto the ground, seeming mildly amused by what I had done. She then reached into Clotho's basket, pulling along a sky blue thread in her hands before passing it off to Atropos, who was holding a pair of silver scissors.

"After all, we're the ones who sent the dream your way," Lachesis continued, completely unfazed from my flinching as I watched Atropos cut the thread, the Fates moving onto a different colored thread.

"Why would you do that?" I asked, trying not to flinch again as I saw a second strand of blue being spun by Clotho. "I thought knowing too much of your future was a bad thing."

"Oh, for most people, it is," Atropos agreed, calmly swinging her scissors around her index finger while she waited for Lachesis to finish measuring Clotho's string. "But that doesn't apply to you, Andromeda. Especially since you know everything that's supposed to happen ever since you were fourteen."

"Be quiet!" I hissed, glancing around me to make sure that none of the dryads had overheard. They were worse than the Aphrodite kids in terms of spreading gossip. "No one knows about that yet, and because of you three, I'm not allowed to tell for another three years. So I'd appreciate if we kept this on the down low."

"We didn't put that rule in place because it tampered with fate," Clotho said. "Yes, it played a part, but it is mostly for your protection."

"Imagine if a young demigoddess walks into camp and talks about everything she knows. And suddenly everything she ever said comes true. People would've come to fear you," Lachesis explained.

"You would've been treated like the Oracle," Atropos finished. "Treated as a fearsome being that spewed the future, no matter how horrible it may be."

"I was already treated like a freak my first week here," I said, skipping a rock out across the ocean. I watched as the moon's pristine reflection turned into a bunch of ripples. "Most people here already fear me. They know of what I can do, of whom I serve."

"They are unaware of your father and of your true purpose."

"Good." I picked up another stone. "I don't want them to know."

"If that's the case, then why did you call us here?" Lachesis asked.

"I have some questions, which can only be answered by the three of you."

The Fates all stopped their spinning, measuring, and cutting, looking at me curiously. Simultaneously, the three of them shrugged and set down their baskets. However, the string and scissors continued to work automatically, allowing for the spool to unwind for a bit before going taut, giving the scissors time to snip the thread.

Then the Fates began to glow, shimmering a blinding white for a moment before the light died down, revealing three young women that were so unlike the shriveled up grandmas I'd become accustomed to hearing about. None of them appeared any older than me, their faces and bodies as youthful as ever.

"Woah," I exhaled. "You're beautiful. But why did you change your ages?"

"We figured you'd be more comfortable if you were speaking with your peers," Atropos said.

"I call BS. Tell me the truth, guys. It's not like anyone would believe me anyways."

Clotho grimaced. "We've – _I've –_ deducted the reason you asked us to come. It's about Cleo, isn't it?"

"It better not be," Lachesis warned, her green eyes shining dangerously in the moonlight. "We've already warned you what was going to happen if you interfere with the daughter of Apollo's destiny."

"We wouldn't want Bianca to get hurt, now would we? Especially after all the work we had to put into to keep her alive this time."

I gritted my teeth and clenched my fists, the stone's rough texture digging into the palm of my hand. "Do you think I'm that naïve? I know of what is to come, no thanks to you three, but I won't have you hurting Bianca and Nico because of me. No, I have other questions."

"Well," Atropos said, shooting me a devilish grin. "Ask away."

* * *

I didn't get any sleep that night.

The Fates had left me with more questions than answers, but at least I they'd answered everything I'd asked them, something I hadn't expected. I now knew of Salina, Taurus, and Rick Riordan's locations, information I was unable to find out in eight years. Thank the gods I wasn't a private investigator, or I would've lost my marbles over this case years ago.

After leaving the beach and failing to fall asleep, I went to the arena for some late night training. I wasn't concerned about the cleaning harpies, as Chiron had changed their nighttime job to only attacking campers trying to leave camp unauthorized or through Zeus's Fist instead of eating kids who broke curfew.

I hacked at dummies until I couldn't stand anymore, using every bit of pent up energy until I had nothing else left to give. Epithymia laid discarded on the floor as I pushed myself up into a seated position, trying to catch my breath.

The sun was on the verge of rising over the horizon, meaning I'd been training for approximately nine hours. I could feel the muscles in my arms and legs quivering from over use, especially since I hadn't taken a break since four in the morning.

"My, my, my," I heard someone say. Pushing my sweat soaked hair out of my face, I looked up to find Quintus decked out in his leather armor, his hand resting easily against the hilt of his sword. Mrs. O'Leary was bounding behind after her master, the ground shaking every time her paws landed onto the dirt floor of the arena. "And here I was thinking that I'd get the arena to myself."

"Sorry to disappoint," I said, taking a few sips from my water bottle. Once my mouth no longer felt like I'd swallowed a handful of sand, I dumped the rest of the bottle over my head, feeling the water return some of my strength.

"Couldn't sleep?" I nodded. "Neither could I. Unfortunately, demigod dreams don't stop even when you're fifty."

" _Great,"_ I drawled. I then got to my feet, leaning heavily against the wall as the world spun. Black spots danced in my vision. Maybe I'd pushed myself a little too hard last night.

"Careful there!" Quintus exclaimed, placing his hands on my shoulders to keep me upright.

"I'm fine."

"No, you're not."

I tried brushing the instructor's hands off of me, but he had none of it. He moved one hand to the small of my back and led me to a bench, telling me to take a seat.

"Wait here," he said sternly. "Mrs. O'Leary, make sure Andy stays in her seat."

" _AROOOOF!"_ Mrs. O'Leary responded. She then sniffed one of the dummies I'd destroyed and picked it up in her mouth, shaking it back and forth like a rag doll as large drops of dog slobber thudded to the ground.

Quintus returned a minute later with another water bottle, a square of ambrosia, and an ice pack. I accepted the water and the ice pack but refused the ambrosia. Overexertion didn't warrant the use of the godly food. Quintus was definitely annoyed that I didn't take the ambrosia, but he didn't push seeing as the water alone was enough to clear my vision.

"How long have you been here?" he asked, picking up the discarded ice pack and pressing it against my forehead despite the fact that I had set it down.

"Nine hours," I replied bluntly. Quintus's eyes widened in surprise, pressing his lips together in a firm line.

"Go get some breakfast, then go to bed."

"I'm fine, Quintus." I pushed the son of Athena's hand away and stood up, pressing the button on Epithymia's hilt that turned my sword back into a charm. "You don't need to baby me."

"You know, just because Mr. D isn't here doesn't mean that you can speak to instructors like that, Andy."

"I'm an instructor, too, as well as the second oldest demigod here. Plus, if we're pulling ranks here, I've been at Camp Half-Blood for eight years while you showed up about a month ago." I started fiddling with my camp beads, rolling the clay spheres between my fingers. "Thanks for the help, but I know my own limits."

Quintus scoffed. "Didn't seem like you did when I got here."

"You don't know what I've been through." I grit my teeth. "I lost control last night because of a very good reason. Now, if you excuse me, I'm going to get some breakfast and pray to the gods that my friends are still alive in that demonic maze."

I stormed out of the arena, hearing Mrs. O'Leary whimper from my sudden departure. Quintus patted the hellhound's side, calming her as I broke out into a sprint, wanting to get as far away from Daedalus as I possibly could before I did something I regretted.

If Daedalus had died all those millennia ago, none of this would be happening. Kyle wouldn't have a route into the heart of camp, my friends wouldn't be on a life-threatening quest, and most importantly to me, Cleo wouldn't be doomed to die in the next four weeks.

I wanted to scream or kick something, but I'd left the arena, and I wasn't going to scare campers because of my own frustrations. I had a better idea, but food first.

Thankfully, the conch shell signaling breakfast sounded, and I headed for the dining pavilion.

* * *

For the next week, I took my anger and channeled it into my hand-to-hand combat class. Luke sensed that I was upset. That, and the fact that I'd been leaving more bruises than normal.

It'd been almost two weeks since Annabeth, Grover, Tyson, and Percy went into the Labyrinth for their quest, and even though I knew what was going on, I couldn't help but feel the slightest bit anxious. That anxiety was also evident in my training.

But I knew things were going to get interesting for me when my phone went off in the middle of a spar.

Luke and I had been teaching the kids how to fight someone with a sword or dagger while being disarmed, and once we'd demonstrated a couple of times, we'd broken up the class into partners and had them practice with each other. The two of us walked around, critiquing the pairs and helping the children out.

Once we were both satisfied with how our students were practicing, Luke and I decided to spar. We flipped a coin to determine who'd get a sword; Luke won.

The two of us began to spar, Luke making the first move while I ducked to the side, aiming a kick for his side. He easily side stepped, managing to bring his sword down in my direction, forcing me to take a step back or get cut in half. While Luke tried to swipe my feet out from underneath me, I landed a punch on his face, inwardly cringing as I heard the _crack_ of his neck as his head jerked sideways.

Luke scowled and began pressing harder, his sword becoming a whirlwind of destruction that I narrowly avoided. He was good, one of the best swordsmen that camp had, but he'd tire from the intensity of his attacks. When he finally stopped for a moment to catch his breath, I lunged forward, getting in too close for Luke to be able to effectively use his sword.

I'd almost disarmed him, too, when my phone started buzzing. I swore under my breath as I tapped my bracelet, my bag appearing over my shoulder. However, Luke hadn't got the memo, and this time I swore out loud when he grazed my arm, a thin line cutting through the sleeve of my shirt.

It wasn't so much that the cut hurt, more like I hated being hurt by my own recklessness.

Luckily for me, Luke stopped, genuinely surprised that he'd managed to cut me. Because as much as he was one of the best swordsmen at camp, I was the best swordswoman. Even without a blade, I was as lethal as they came (you can thank the gods for that).

"What's wrong?" Luke asked, wiping off my blood from the edge of the blade with a cloth that he produced from his pocket.

"The gods," I muttered, finding my phone in my bag. I didn't pull it out, though, keeping it hidden from the other campers. "I've got to take this."

"You go ahead. I'll take care of them."

I bit my lip. "Are you sure, Luke? I feel really bad-"

"And I'd feel really bad if you got turned into a toad, because you didn't pick up the phone," Luke interrupted. He gestured towards one of the arches. "Fill me in when you're done."

I nodded and walked over to the nearest arch, hiding in one of the niches between some of the stones before pulling out my phone. I frowned as I saw the name on my screen. Why the hell was Hephaestus calling me? The day he gave me the phone, he said he was never going to use it, saying that he'd invent a better way to contact me.

"Hello?" I asked, accepting the call with the push of a button.

"Holy Hera, child," Hephaestus grumbled. "I thought the whole purpose of this gods-forsaken phone was to get in contact with you faster than an Iris-message."

"Sorry about that. I was in the middle of a class."

"Hmph. You're lucky that I'm such a patient god, girl, or else you'd be a grease stain by now."

I rolled my eyes. "I know, Lord Hephaestus. Now, what seems to be the problem?"

"Why do you think I have a problem?" I could hear the smirk.

"Well, that's the reason you invented this phone – either for problems or missions. And you never send me on missions, because you have everything you need in your forges."

"Usually, you'd be right," Hephaestus agreed. "But desperate times call for desperate measures, and shockingly, I need you to do something for me."

"How can I be of service?"

"I need you to report to my favorite forge immediately. You know where it is, right?"

I paled, biting my lip again. "I do."

"Good, because I sent some demigods down there to reclaim it, and I'd like you to go to make sure they get my forge back. Understood?"

"Yes, sir. I'll report to Mount St. Helens immediately."

Hephaestus made a noise of assent. "Send me a message once my forge has been reclaimed. Good luck, girl."

I hung up, swallowing the lump that had grown in my throat during the call.

Mount St. Helens? Gods, this was going to be a disaster.

I sighed and rummaged through my bag, pulling out my fireproof jacket, pants, and boots. While I was fireproof, the same protection didn't extend to my clothing unless I was concentrating, something that I doubted I'd be able to worry about in a lair full of telkhines.

After quickly explaining to Luke what was going on, I got changed and disappeared into my own shadow, praying that Chiron wouldn't kill me when I got back. I mean, technically I wasn't going to be _in_ the Labyrinth, so that didn't count. Plus, I think he'd understand that I was under direct orders of an Olympian.

The heat from the volcano was so stifling, I immediately started sweating a few moments after landing onto a rocky ridge about ten feet over the lava lake that served as the heat for Hephaestus' forge. The smoke made my eyes water. But I wiped away the reflex tears and looked around, getting my bearings.

Bridges linked different passageways over the lava, and usually, they were empty save for the few automatons Hephaestus had running around. Now, the bridges were being used by telkhines, who were pushing around metal carts full of all sorts of dangerous metals, metals that could be forged into weapons for the Titan army.

Out of the corner of my eye, I watched as someone ducked into one of the metal carts, barely having time to toss the tarp over themselves before two telkhines waddled up to the cart and started pushing it.

"Jesus, Percy," I muttered under my breath, shadow-traveling a few feet behind the telkhines.

Despite all the lava, there was a surprising amount of shadows, which I cloaked myself in as I followed the cart Percy was in. The telkhines stopped in a room where there were twenty-five telkhines watching a movie about puberty in monsters. You know, I never wanted to know the anatomy of a telkhine.

As the teacher began firing the younglings up, reminding them why the telkhines served Kronos instead of Zeus, Percy sprung up from underneath the tarp, slicing through five of them with Riptide.

"New lesson, class," he announced, staring down the six-foot-tall telkhine instructor. "Most monsters will vaporize when sliced with a Celestial bronze sword. This change is perfectly normal, and will happen to you _right now_ if you don't BACK OFF!"

His threat worked, causing for some of the telkhines to back up. But there were still twenty left – too many for Percy to take on by himself. And I couldn't interfere, not yet anyways. The Fates had given me a cue when I could help out, meaning that I wasn't allowed to do anything until I saw Annabeth for myself.

Percy then jumped out of the cart, yelled, "CLASS DISMISSED!" and ran for the exit.

I ran after him, but so did the telkhines. From the shadows, I took out another three monsters, stabbing them from behind before shadow-traveling next to Percy, keeping up with his pace. He took a sudden turn, revealing a door that could keep the telkhines locked inside the main cavern. He slammed the door shut and locked it, but it wouldn't be long before they made it through.

Then Percy ran towards the platform at the center of the lava lake, shouting for Annabeth. I landed next to him, my shadows disappearing the moment we were both shoved behind a big bronze cauldron.

"Andy?" the both of them asked, clearly not expecting me to be here.

"Shhh!" I put a finger over my lips. "Unless you want to die."

Percy felt around until his hand closed around something, pulling Annabeth's Yankee cap off her head. She shimmered into existence, glaring at Percy and staring at me. Ash and soot streaked her face. "Percy, what is your problem?" she hissed, taking her cap back.

"We're going to have company!" He quickly explained about the monster orientation class. Her eyes widened.

"So that's what they are," Annabeth said. "Telkhines. I should've known. And they're making…Well, look."

I didn't have to. "My father's scythe," I spat out, glaring daggers at the four telkhines as they hammered away at the glowing piece of metal. "The greatest Titan weapon. So powerful that a single cut can rip your soul from your body."

"They were talking about the greatest Titan weapon," Percy recounted. "And they…they said they made my father's trident."

"The telkhines betrayed the gods," Annabeth said. "They were practicing dark magic. I don't know what, exactly, but Zeus banished them to Tartarus."

"With Kr-"

"Don't invoke my father's name," I warned. "Not here. Not now."

Annabeth nodded, her face grim. "We have to get out-"

No sooner had she said that than the door to the classroom exploded and young telkhines came pouring out. They stumbled over each other, trying to figure out which way to charge.

"Put your cap back on," Percy said. "Get out!"

"What?" Annabeth shrieked. "No! I'm not leaving you."

"I've got a plan. I'll distract them. You can use the metal spider – maybe it'll lead you back to Hephaestus. You have to tell him what's going on."

"But you'll be killed!"

"Not if I have a say," I said. Percy opened his mouth to argue, but I cut him off, saying, "Don't argue with me on this, Percy. Annabeth, go. We'll hold them off."

"We'll be fine," Percy said. "Besides, we've got no choice."

Annabeth looked at Percy like she wanted to punch him, but a moment later, she grabbed him by the shirt and kissed him.

"Be careful, Seaweed Brain. Keep him safe, Andy." She put on her hat and vanished.

Percy was staring at the lava like every single nerve in his body had short circuited, but the telkhines and I were enough to jar him back to reality. I shook his shoulder and pulled him up, just as one of the telkhines yelled, "There!"

We ran for the middle of the platform, surprising the four elder sea demons so much they dropped the red-hot blade. It was about six feet long and curved like a crescent moon – a scythe.

The elder demons got over their surprise quickly, covering each of the four ramps that connected the platform to the tunnels, preventing a quick exit. I scowled and drew my hunting knives, knowing that telkhines were terrified of Stygian iron.

The tallest one snarled. "What do we have here? A son of Poseidon?"

"Yes," another growled. "I can smell the sea in his blood."

"And what of the girl?" the third asked.

"I smell…" the fourth telkhine trailed off, looking absolutely petrified. "No! It can't be!"

Percy and I stood back to back, raising our weapons. I was surprisingly calm for facing evil sea demons, but all in a day's work, I guess.

"Back off!" I snarled, waving a knife in their direction.

"Strike one of us down, demigod," the third demon, getting over his shock, said, "and the rest of us shall tear you to shreds. Your father betrayed us. He took our gift and said nothing as we were cast into the pit. We will see _him_ sliced to pieces. Him and all the other Olympians."

"Yeah, I don't think so," I said, calmly twirling my knives in my hands. "You see, my brother and I are pretty close. I don't appreciate you threatening to send him to Tartarus."

"Your brother?" the second telkhine asked.

"Never mind that!" the tallest telkhine said. "Let us see how strong they are. Let us see how long it takes them to burn!"

The telkhines scooped lava out of the furnace and began throwing it at us. I pulled Percy close, encasing us in an impenetrable dome of fire, causing for the lava to merely hiss and fall in disgusting globs back onto the platform.

But I couldn't keep this up forever. The shadow-traveling had already taken a lot out of me, and now I could feel my strength draining as I kept the fire dome up.

"Andy, drop it," Percy told me, turning to face some of the telkhines that were still trying to throw lava at us. "I need you awake if this turns out into a fight."

"Take this, at least," I said, quickly shucking off my jacket. "It's fireproof."

The second Percy finished zipping up the jacket, I dropped the dome, allowing for every lava glob to land on our clothing. My shirt started burning up, but other than that, I was fine, the lava feeling like an electrical blanket on my skin.

Percy, on the other hand, had dropped Riptide in an attempt to swat the lava off his clothes, screaming in sheer agony as the lava started to burn him.

"Your father's nature protects you," one of the telkhines said. "Makes you hard to burn. But not impossible, youngling. Not impossible."

As Percy crumpled to the floor, I stood over him, swatting away as much lava as I could with my knives, returning the fire balls like I was playing baseball. The telkhines began laughing with delight at the sight of Percy, but that delight quickly turned to terror when they saw me pick up some lava from the floor and chuck it right back at them with enough force to push some of them into the lava lake.

Then, knowing what Percy was planning, I bent down and gave him my hand, telling him, "Use my energy." In one low, guttural shout, Percy summoned a geyser out of thin air, the new stream shooting us straight into the air from the mouth of the volcano.

I tightened my grip on Percy's hand as I felt the rest of my strength drain away, leaving me exhausted as we got thrown upwards. But before I could pass out, I wrapped my arms around Percy, refusing to let Zeus hurt him for being this high up.

Then we began to fall, fire and water and smoke surrounding us as we plummeted towards the ground.

* * *

I woke up to the taste of nectar being poured down my throat.

"Ugh," I groaned as I sat up, a girl gasping in surprise as she saw my sudden action. I was holding my head, feeling extremely light headed from the sudden power drain.

I looked around and found Percy face down in the sand, his skin a bright red, like someone had just dumped a ton of boiling hot water on him. Blisters ran up and down his legs, neck, and the back of his hands, all places that my jacket wasn't protecting. Speaking of which, my jacket was still intact, having been able to keep the lava from reaching his chest.

"Percy!" I shouted, crawling the few feet towards him. Then I flipped him over, brushing the sand out of his eyes, mouth, and nose.

"Is he breathing?" the girl asked, sounding slightly ashamed that she hadn't flipped him over beforehand.

I pulled out a dagger, causing the girl to inhale sharply, and placed it right underneath Percy's nostrils. A moment later, I saw the metal fog up, meaning that yes, he was still breathing. I still checked his pulse anyways.

"He's fine," I told her, sheathing my dagger at my waist. "He's just banged up."

"Banged up?" The words sounded foreign in her mouth.

"Hurt," I amended. I held out a hand. "I'm Andy Collins."

The girl clasped my hand and shook it. "I am Calypso. Welcome to Ogygia."


	37. Chapter 37

While Percy was still comatose, I spoke with Calypso like we were old friends, the two of us swapping stories as we waited for the son of Poseidon to wake up. And luckily for me, I could still keep track of time on Ogygia even though this place technically didn't exist on any map.

Apparently, I was out for eighteen hours, thirty-eight minutes, and forty-four seconds, which, according to Calypso, was the fastest that anyone's ever regained consciousness after landing on her island. It made me wonder the state that her other visitors had been in when they had arrived.

Currently, I was with Calypso in her garden, tending to the myriad of magical plants as Percy snored on the beach. I could hear him mumbling while he slept, occasionally calling out for Annabeth, Grover, or Tyson. One time, he even called out for his mom.

I'd stopped weed pulling, frowning as I watched Percy writhe in the sand. He wasn't in any pain, as far as I could tell, but I had no idea what was going on inside his mind. Honestly, it was a miracle he hadn't died from the sudden geyser he created from the earth. And to think that he had done this by himself last time? It blew my mind at how powerful he was.

"You care for him?" Calypso asked, failing to hide the jealousy in her voice. She aggressively shoved her shovel into the dirt.

"Of course," I answered, jolting back to reality. "In a little brother sort of way. We're practically family, him and I."

"Oh, I see." The jealousy had faded from her voice. She paused for a moment, tossing her braid back over her shoulder and out of her way. Calypso could've passed off for a Demeter kid from how much she loved her garden, not to mention that her plants seemed to thrive by simply being in her presence. "Is that how you ended up here, then? Protecting him?"

"Basically." I told her of what had happened inside of Mount St. Helens. Calypso stilled, pursing her lips together as she watched Percy, who'd finally stilled while he rested. "Now, we're here."

"Which shouldn't be possible. I do not mean to offend you, but a girl has never landed on my island before. It is strange, to say the least."

I shrugged, setting down the weeds I'd pulled off to the side, where magical servants whisked them away to gods-knows-where. "It wasn't my intention to be there when the volcano erupted," I said, brushing some dirt off my knees and hands. "But Hephaestus sent me to help, so I did."

Calypso went silent, tending to her moonlace as she mulled over the information I'd gave her.

I stood up and washed off the rest of the dirt from my hands in the fountain. Calypso's garden was truly a sight to behold, something I knew Rebecca and Jade would've been overjoyed to see.

Crystals hung from the ceiling of the cave, refracting the sunlight in a way that made the whole place shimmer like sequins. Little stone statues surrounded the gold fountain in the middle of the garden (Calypso assured me these statues didn't come from Aunty Em). Most of her plants were magical, like the moonlace that shone silver in the dark, or her hyacinths that changed color depending on how much sunlight reached their petals.

"I'm going to check on Percy," I said, untying my hair tie from the end of my braid. There were still pieces of hardened lava and a ton of sand in my hair, so after checking on Percy, I'd go for a swim. Not like I could go that far, anyways.

I summoned my bag as I sat down next to Percy, running a hand through his matted hair. His burns had gotten significantly better from Calypso's treatment of nectar and salt water therapy, which was dragging him into the ocean until his skin wasn't redder than Apollo's sacred cows.

Despite the fact that it was easily eighty-five degrees, he was shivering, a cold sweat breaking out across his face. I reached into my bag and pulled out a fluffy blanket that Leah had shoved in there one day after the four of us had gone to watch a movie in the park. Of course, Pete and Joe wanted to go watch a movie in the park in the freaking winter, so Leah and I brought the blanket to keep us warm as well as prevent our friends from turning into popsicles. I then draped the blanket over Percy, watching as he slowly ceased shivering.

I placed a hand against his forehead, biting my bottom lip when I instantly recognized that Percy had a slight fever. I knew it wasn't from illness – he'd been perfectly healthy beforehand – and that it probably had to do with the overuse of his powers. Still, having a fever in this state was never a good thing.

I would've forced an ibuprofen down his throat, but Calypso took a seat beside him and began to sing in Ancient Greek. Her voice was as beautiful as if she were a Muse, but her song was full of sadness and longing, kind of like Adele. No offense towards Adele or anything, but personally, I thought her songs were too depressing for my liking.

Anyhow, Calypso's singing seemed to help Percy. The few remaining blisters that had been on his neck started to fade. His fever broke by the time Calypso finished.

"Go, relax," Calypso told me, an invisible servant depositing a bronze spoon and cup full of nectar into her hands. "I shall care for him while you wash up."

"Thank you," I replied, putting my bag away.

I then stripped down to my undergarments and waded into the water, floating aimlessly on my back as I finally had a chance to catch my breath for the first time in a couple months. Once I got tired of doing nothing, I quickly ran my fingers through my knotted hair, plucking out the hardened lava and sand to the best of my ability. Not that salt water was the best for thick, curly hair, but I work with what I have.

Of course the moment I'm caught off guard, I heard Calypso exclaim, "He's waking!"

I ran out of the water and hastily threw my clothes back on, uncaring about the fact that they were now completely soaked. I'd dry them later.

Calypso retracted the spoon from Percy's mouth and set the cup down beside her, her eyes lit up with anticipation as she waited for Percy to finally wake up. I tossed my damp hair over my shoulders so that the water wouldn't drip directly onto Percy's face. Though, maybe the salt water would've helped.

Oh well.

He'll be fine.

Percy groaned as he finally opened his eyes, blinking a couple of times as he stared up at the sky. Then, he tried to sit up.

Tried being the key word in the sentence, because in reality, all he'd managed to do was slightly push himself upwards using the palm of his hands. He hadn't had the strength to lift his head off the sand.

"Stay still," Calypso chided. "You're too weak to rise."

While Calypso set a damp cloth across Percy's forehead, I spoon-fed him some more nectar, hoping to return some of the color to his face. Well, his own tan, I mean, not pink from the burns he'd sustained. Speaking of which, Calypso began singing again, further healing Percy's burns.

"Who?" he croaked, his voice hoarse from smoke inhalation and lack of use.

"Shhh, brave one," Calypso said. "Rest and heal. No harm will come to you here. I am Calypso."

Then in a moment of amazing heroism, Percy promptly passed out again, his eyes rolling back into his head.

Calypso winced and turned to me. "Tell me again, what exactly did he do that landed you both on my island?"

"He caused Mount St. Helens to erupt," I said while feeding the last of the nectar to Percy. Although ambrosia and nectar could cause a demigod to incinerate if they ate too much, Percy was so weak that I'm pretty sure I could've shoved twenty ambrosia squares down his throat, and he'd still be fine.

"Mount St. Helens? I have never heard of such a volcano."

"Right," I deadpanned. "Well, it's the modern-day Mount Etna, as in you-know-who is still trapped under there."

Calypso scrunched her eyebrows in confusion. "Do you mean Ty-?"

"Don't speak his name! Names have power, and the last thing we need is for that thing to wake up sooner rather than later."

"Yes, I remember that beast well. He almost destroyed the Olympians, too, had it not been for Hermes's speed and Zeus's reckless behavior."

Thunder boomed across the clear blue sky, causing me to roll my eyes. "Bad enough your wife sent us here!" I shouted upwards, Calypso staring at me like I'd grown a second head. "I think she's earned the right to speak freely about you! Drama king."

"Do you have a death wish?" Calypso seethed, grabbing me by the arm and dragging me far away from Percy, like she was afraid I was going to get him killed by being impertinent. "Lord Zeus does not take these offences lightly, Andy."

"Oh, I know." I lit a hand on fire and began drying my sopping wet clothes. "But Zeus and I are on good terms. See, we both make fun of each other, like old-time friends. God knows I would've been long dead by now for some of the things I've said."

"But Lord Zeus doesn't have female friends, especially not mortals. Not unless he's cheating on Lady Hera again."

"I'm an exception," I shrugged.

Calypso crossed her arms over her chest, clearly waiting for an explanation. I mean, it's not like she'd get off this island for another two years, so I told her everything regarding my childhood, including my parentage.

When she learned that my father was Kronos, she winced sympathetically, as she had practically grown up in Mount Othrys since her father, Atlas, was Kronos's second in command. She also told me of the part she played in the war against the Olympians, which wasn't as bad as Zeus had made it out to be.

I'd asked Zeus a couple years ago about Titans like Leto, Rhea, Maia, and Calypso, to which he claimed them all to be security threats and used that as justification for locking them up. It didn't make any sense to me as the first three had supported the gods against the Titans, and all Calypso did was send messages to nature spirits to leave Othrys and Olympus before the fighting began.

While sending the nature spirits away meant fewer fighters for the gods to try to recruit, at least fewer lives would be lost. And nature spirits, unlike gods, couldn't regenerate in Tartarus and eventually return to the mortal world. They'd be reincarnated into some plant, and that'd be the end.

With that in mind, eternal banishment seemed cruel for trying to help out nature spirits. But Zeus, always the paranoid one, had sent Calypso to Ogygia because she supported her father and the Titans. He'd even banished Rhea, his own mother, and Leto and Maia, the mothers of Apollo, Artemis, and Hermes merely because they were Titans.

Although the Olympians were better rulers than the Titans, I didn't agree with much of their decisions regarding the well-being of anything other than Olympian gods. For Christ's sake, they didn't even acknowledge the majority of the minor gods that allowed for life to function, let alone their own children, which would be the reason this war was such a close call in the first place.

"I've got to say," Calypso said, gracefully taking a seat on one side of the picnic table she had inside of her cave. "You're unlike any other demititan I've ever met. You're kind and not bloodthirsty like some of my other relatives."

I sighed internally. "I prefer the term demigod, but thank you. I know children of the Titans don't have the best rep, but I'm hoping to change that." I started to smile. "Plus, I think it's kind of ironic that I support the gods seeing that my father wants nothing more than to slice them up into a million pieces."

"Oh, he's going to flip all right," Calypso agreed. One of her invisible servants set two plates onto the table; another brought us goblets full of wine. After we sacrificed a portion of our dinner to the gods, we began to eat.

You know, for being on an island in the middle of nowhere, the food wasn't half bad. The servants had brought smoked salmon on a bed of white rice with a side of fried plantains. It reminded me of the stories Rosalinda used to tell about the seafood restaurant that her parents used to own, bringing a sad smile to my face.

Of all my friends I'd had back at the orphanage, only Leah showed up in this world. And so had Holly, but just like her counterpart in my world, this one was cruel and unforgiving, especially as a daughter of Ares. It didn't help matters that she had disappeared from camp the same day as Kyle, giving me the impression that she had sided with him against the gods.

Still, I missed gardening with Rebecca and Jade. I missed watching Jesse throw her boomerang in the backyard, aiming for pillows she'd set up in trees, which would give Mrs. Stetson a heart attack. I missed the excitement that came along with Taco Tuesday, the sound of girls trying to run each other over as they fought to take their seats in the dining room.

Most of all, I missed Mrs. Stetson. While Salina may have adopted me, Mrs. Stetson was the closest thing I ever had to a mother in both of my lives. She'd been the one that taught me to read, the one that encouraged me to try out for volleyball, the one who had told me that I shouldn't care what other people thought about me as long as I was doing the right thing.

But I knew I was giving that life up the moment I allowed for Salina to train me. I was a demigod now, tasked with such a Herculean task it was a miracle that I hadn't quit years ago.

"Everything okay?" Calypso asked, jarring me back to reality.

"Yeah, I'm fine." I took the goblet and downed the wine in one large gulp, like I'd just gotten a round of shots. While I may not drink often, I know when I need alcohol to relax, this being one of those times.

"That action says otherwise." Calypso then took a small sip of her wine to prove her point.

"One, I haven't had any form of alcohol since New Years', which was over six months ago. Two, I just took a depressing trip down memory lane," I said, watching as Calypso blushed in embarrassment. She then waved her hand, and an invisible servant refilled my goblet with more wine.

I only managed a few more sips before setting the goblet aside, already feeling a little light headed. The downside to not drinking as much as Pete and Joe? I was such a lightweight that a goblet of wine, which was smaller than the average wine glass, was enough to have me slightly tipsy.

"So," Calypso said, folding her hands into her lap as her servants whisked away our plates. Blessedly, one of them brought a pitcher of water and two glasses. "Tell me about the outside world. How have things changed since Odysseus has visited?"

In all honesty, it was kind of fun telling Calypso about how much everything had changed since her banishment. I swear, I've never seen someone so terrified at the sight of an iPhone before. She actually screamed when I pulled out my headphones, thinking that they were some type of magical whip disguised as white wires.

Needless to say, once I showed her how my phone worked, I didn't get it back until she'd drained the battery. Luckily, I'd had a portable charger in my bag, but I didn't dare tell Calypso that or she'd drain that battery, too.

I also used this time to teach Calypso about how the English language had changed. While she may not have been speaking in thy's and thou's like Zoe, I knew if I called something "sick" or mentioned modern day stuff like Starbucks and movie theaters, Calypso wouldn't understand.

This went on for a couple hours until I felt myself starting to lose my voice from overuse. Calypso decided that that would be a good time to end her lesson on English for the day, pulling out a clean white t-shirt and some gray drawstring pants from a wooden drawer.

"Will you help me change Percy?" she asked, gesturing to the clothes in her hand then towards the comatose son of Poseidon.

"Sure, just don't destroy the jacket. That's mine."

"Why is he wearing your jacket?" Calypso asked as we walked onto the beach.

"It's fireproof," I explained. "It prevented the lava from burning his chest."

"Smart girl." Calypso unzipped my jacket, and together the two of us maneuvered Percy's arms out of the fabric. "His father's blood would protect him for a little, but not enough to stave off the effects of lava."

"Exactly why I gave it to him," I said, tying the sleeves into a knot around my waist.

Calypso and I then decided that I'd be the one to put on Percy's pants while she tried to put on his shirt. She told me that normally she'd do it by herself, but seeing that I knew Percy longer, she felt more comfortable if I did it.

Let's just say I got Percy undressed and dressed in under two minutes, already used to this kind of thing. You'd be surprised the amount of unconscious campers that get brought into the infirmary, and per Chiron's request, the Apollo kids have to get them into a standard hospital-issue gown. I'd gotten a lot of practice of dressing unconscious kids, to say the least.

Once Percy was out of his burned clothing, I scooped him up into my arms, Calypso having told me that she had prepared a bed for him earlier in the day.

The beds were inside of Calypso's cave, each bed having its own area inside of a different colored geode. If someone wanted privacy, they could pull the white curtain that was bunched up, closing them off from the rest of the cave.

I set Percy onto the freshly made bed, the white sheets and feather pillows appearing extremely soft. After tucking him in, Calypso drew the curtains shut, giving Percy his privacy should he wake up while the two of us slept.

"Do you wish to sleep?" Calypso asked me. "I prepared another bed for you as well."

"What are you going to do?" I asked, placing a hand on my hip.

Don't get me wrong, Calypso had given me no reason to distrust her, but I knew she was more than met the eye. While she'd been wronged by the gods, she was fiercely protective of those she cared about, including Percy. Even though I told her that he was like my younger brother, I couldn't help but fear that she wanted to stab me while I slept just to make sure that Percy was hers.

And though I'd like to bring up how that'd be considered pedophilia seeing that Percy was only fourteen and I was twenty-two, I realized that Calypso was literally over three-thousand years old, Percy had considered dating her, and Leo would end up dating her.

Okay, that's enough thinking about godly relationships for tonight.

"I'm going to weave for a bit," Calypso said at last. "It's very relaxing. Do you know how to weave, Andy?"

"I do, but I'm not the best," I laughed, showing her the numerous scars on my hands I'd earned from slamming the shuttle onto my fingers. "I think I'll just go to bed, if that's all right with you."

"Of course. The bed in the purple geode has been made up for you."

I smiled gratefully at the daughter of Atlas. "Thank you for your generosity, Calypso."

She waved me off. "Get some sleep. I have a feeling the two of us are going to have much to explain when Percy wakes up."

* * *

I dreamt of Kronos that night, of his soul restlessly stirring inside of that damned golden sarcophagus while Kyle paced back and forth, his hand twitching on Backbiter's hilt as he glanced nervously at the sarcophagus.

Kyle no longer looked like the corpse that he appeared to be when Thalia had pushed him off the cliff at Mount Tam last December, almost glowing with health. I guess that's what happens when you bathe in the River Styx.

Anyhow, Kyle was muttering something in Ancient Greek, but he was too quiet for me to make sense of anything. Then, the doors to the mostly rebuilt throne room flew open, revealing Kelli the _empousa_ and Holly, just as I'd suspected.

"He's almost ready," Kyle said nervously, finally ceasing in his pacing to glare at the sarcophagus.

"Aw, are you getting cold feet, master?" Kelli cooed, twirling a finger in Kyle's messy hair.

"Back off, vamp," Holly hissed, pushing Kelli aside and wrapping an arm around Kyle's waist. Kelli didn't seemed all that miffed at being pushed away, smirking evilly at the sight of the two demigods holding each other. "He's _my_ boyfriend."

"Not for long," Kelli trilled, earning a freezing glare from Holly.

"Shut up!"

"There's no use in fighting her," Kyle sighed, pulling Holly closer to him. "She's right, you know. We're so close to bringing Kronos back to life! The gods will finally fall, and we'll get to recreate the world in our image. Isn't that what you always wanted?"

Holly visibly gulped before resting her head on Kyle's shoulder, so unlike the fierce daughter of Ares I'd known her to be before she left camp. "It is. I just didn't know I'd have to lose you to do that."

Kyle rolled his eyes, clearly having had this argument before. "You're not going to lose me."

"Oh, so am I supposed to kiss you and hug you and do other couple-y stuff when Kronos inhabits your body?" Holly straightened and began glaring at Kyle. "He'd sooner shove me into Tartarus. Don't get me wrong, I pledged my life to Kronos, and I will serve him as he needs me. I just wish he had picked someone else."

"There is no one else," Kyle said miserably. "And my body has already been prepared. I am ready to host the Titan Lord. All that's missing is one more half-blood, and he shall be restored."

"Perhaps not," Kelli said, widening her smirk so that her fangs were visible to both demigods. Holly snarled like she wanted nothing more than to decapitate the _empousa,_ but Kyle's arm around her waist kept her grounded next to him.

"What do you mean?" he asked, his knuckles white around Backbiter's hilt as he looked to Kelli.

"I mean, there is another way for Kronos to come back without your body, duh!"

Holly managed to escape Kyle's grasp, and within seconds, she had Kelli pinned to the floor, a dagger hovering right over her jugular. "Tell us, demon, or I will kill you right where you lay!"

"Holly, please." Kyle pinched the bridge of his nose.

"No, Kyle, I won't lose you to Kronos if there's another way!" Holly dug the edge of her dagger into Kelli's throat, causing for a thin red line to appear on the _empousa's_ perfect skin. Kelli hissed back in anger, not pleased at the feeling of Celestial bronze cutting into her. " _Tell us!_ I won't ask again!"

Kelli began to laugh like a stereotypical cheerleader, which only furthered in angering Holly even more. The daughter of Ares drew her dagger back and slashed it across Kelli's cheek, leaving a gash that ran the length of her cheekbone. Kelli laughed even harder.

"Gods, Kelli, stop being so dramatic," Kyle said in exasperation, not even blinking as he bent down and pulled Holly away from the _empousa_ with inhuman-like strength. "Just tell Holly what she wants to know before she kills you."

"You'd really have me killed, master?"

"You've outlived your usefulness, so yes. I'd gladly let Holly kill you."

Kelli pouted. "Neither one of you have any team spirit. And as to your answer, well, that's easy!" Kelli whirled around, giving a full smile that revealed her razor-like fangs, stopping when she was staring directly at me. I felt my blood go cold.

No, she couldn't be serious.

"You just need her!" Kelli exclaimed, pointing at me. "I smell Kronos in her blood. She would serve Kronos's needs just as well as you, master."

Kyle squinted, trying to see who Kelli was referring to. This caused for Kelli to sigh impatiently before waving a hand over me, causing Kyle and Holly to stumble back in shock, almost bumping into the golden sarcophagus.

"Andy?!" the both of them shrieked.

"The witch is a better vessel than Kyle?" Holly shouted, her face redder than a firetruck.

"That's impossible! Unless…" Kyle quickly blanched, spinning on his heel to face me. _"You,"_ he gasped, pointing a finger at me. "You're the one Kronos has shown me in my dreams, his missing child! Andromeda Collins is the daughter of Kronos!"

"Uh, Morpheus?" I asked out loud, watching as they couldn't hear me. "Could you please get me out of here?"

 _Anything for the princess,_ I heard Morpheus respond, causing me to shudder in disgust. Please tell me that Kronos hadn't gone spreading word about me among the monsters and gods that followed him. But seeing that Morpheus was aware of my status, I doubted that.

The next thing I knew, I jolted out of bed, breathing heavily as the full ramifications of my dream rested on my shoulders like I was back underneath the sky.

Kyle wanted to capture me to be Kronos's vessel.

Dear gods, we have a major problem.


	38. Chapter 38

While Chiron may have been over exaggerating about the Labyrinth at first, now I truly had a reason to be afraid of that stupid death maze. I had half a mind to kill Quintus the minute Percy and I returned to Camp Half-Blood, but I knew better. Maybe Hades would let me visit him in the Underworld after Nico releases his soul.

Percy had woken up before me, and according to Calypso, neither one of them were able to wake me up from my dream. From what I could gather, I'd been out for another two days, perhaps my overexertion finally catching up to me. I really didn't know.

I was currently sitting by the water, watching the gentle waves rush up to greet the sand before retreating back into the ocean. Calypso and Percy were talking behind me, the concern palpable in their voices.

"What happened?" Percy asked.

"I do not know," Calypso replied. "She was fine the last time she was awake. Perhaps she had a dream of some sort?"

"More like a nightmare."

He was right, of course. While Percy wasn't the smartest book-wise, he was one of the most observant people I'd ever met, able to distinguish someone's emotions by picking up on a few cues. It also helped that he'd known me for eight years, meaning he knew exactly how horrific my nightmares could be.

Could Kronos really inhabit me instead of Kyle?

I exhaled shakily, shoving that thought out of my mind. No, Kelli had to be lying. I hadn't bathed in the Styx, and nothing short of a complete brain washing would be enough to convince me to join my father.

Then again, this was uncharted territory. Even Salina had never heard of a mortal child of Kronos until the Fates told her about me, something that made me extremely dangerous. My powers alone were that of a minor god, which I knew Zeus hadn't been too happy about when he learned just how much I could affect the natural world simply based on my emotions.

Even so, I'd never heard of any god or Titan having the ability to possess one of their own children. Sure, they could influence a person using multiple different methods, but it's not like Poseidon was going to take over Percy's body and use it to do his bidding.

But this was Kronos we were dealing with. Thousands of years in Tartarus was more than enough time for the Crooked One to pick up on even darker tricks than he'd been aware of when he was king, which may have included possessing one's child.

Gods, I knew I'd be needed back at camp to help out in the fight, but maybe it was better if I accepted Poseidon's offer. At least I'd know that my mind would stay my own.

"Want to talk about it?" Percy asked, taking a seat next to me in the sand.

I sighed again, pulling my knees up to my chest. "Not really. You just need to know that my father is almost awake and that I won't be able to help you anymore on this quest. Once we get back to camp, I'm staying there."

"Not to sound rude, but why now? You promised to always be there for me, but now you're taking that back when the Labyrinth is involved?"

"It's not like that, Percy." I grabbed a fistful of sand. "I promised to be there, I know, but what I saw in that nightmare…" I shuddered.

"What did you see?"

"Percy, I-"

"Andy, I've always respected your privacy," Percy interrupted, "but I need to know why you're pulling away now of all times. If things go south, I knew I could always count on you to show up and help us out. If you're no longer available, I want to know why."

"Fair enough."

I told Percy everything I'd seen in that dream, including details about Kelli. Percy seemed relieved that he wasn't the only one the cheerleader could sense whilst in dreams, but he wasn't all that thrilled at the mention of her name, either.

Calypso soon joined us as well, paling at the mention of Kronos' dubious plans. I guess she was happy to be stuck on Ogygia now, far away from the schist show that was going to go down in the upcoming weeks. I know I would be.

"Stay away from the Labyrinth," Calypso said, and Percy nodded so violently it's amazing he didn't give himself whiplash.

"No kidding," I scoffed. "Chiron was right; that place is a menace."

"That I still have to go through," Percy grumbled, earning a small but sad smile from Calypso. "Stupid Daedalus. Why couldn't the Ancient Greeks just die when they were supposed to?"

I cracked a small smile at that. Yeah, while the sentiment seemed a little abrasive, Percy was technically right. We wouldn't be dealing with this whole Labyrinth mess if Daedalus had died thousands of years ago like any other person. But no-o-o, this is a son of Athena we're dealing with, the most ingenious son of Athena, actually. Of course he learned how to pass his soul into different automaton bodies.

When Percy noticed Calypso smiling at him, he began blushing, and she turned away, her smile fading from her face.

"May I have a moment with Percy?" Calypso muttered, her voice soft but laced with anguish.

"Of course." I stood up and dusted the sand off my clothes. "I'll be in the garden if you need me."

I worked in the garden for a couple of hours, loving the feeling of plants and dirt against my hands. The last time I truly got to plant anything was over eight years ago, when I had gone into the strawberry fields with the Demeter kids my first week of camp. Ever since then, I'd never had a chance to have a garden of my own.

Even when I trained with Demeter, she spent more time teaching me how to identify different plant species and how to use different plants to my advantage than letting me work in any type of field or garden. I mean, her training was very helpful, but some weeks I would've enjoyed nothing more than to live inside a garden.

Once the sun began to set, an invisible servant rang a little bell, signaling that the table had been set for dinner. I wiped off the remaining dirt onto my jeans and brushed a stray hair out of my face.

As the stars started taking their spot in the sky, many of Calypso's flowers began to glow like the sea anemones we had back in cabin three. But the prettiest flowers by far were the moonlaces, which glowed silver when the moonlight reached their petals. Such a shame that mortals were missing out on such a beautiful sight.

I was the last one to take a seat at the dinner table, Percy and Calypso having already started to eat. The servants had prepared beef stew and apple cider that night, which tasted as amazing as it sounds. They'd also lit up a few candles, making me feel like I was intruding on a date rather than eating dinner with some friends.

Eventually, I felt so awkward sitting at the table while Percy told Calypso about Manhattan that I left, taking a candle with me, so I could read. I didn't go that far, sitting in the mouth of the cave, which was only ten or so feet away from the dining table. I could still hear every word of their conversation, though I zoned out as I picked up where I left off in _City of Glass._

I'd gotten so sucked into my book that I hadn't realized Hephaestus appeared until I heard a can of soda spewing its contents and various swear words in Ancient Greek. I tucked my book away and looked up just in time to see Hephaestus swat away a can of Pepsi, his work clothes and beard completely doused from the soda.

"Stupid servants," he muttered. "Good automatons are what she needs. They never act up!"

I rolled my eyes at the comment. Clearly the god had forgotten about the time his automatons rebelled and nearly blew up half of Olympus and most of Asia. The aftermath of that disaster hadn't been fun to clean up. Imagine _Avengers: Age of Ultron_ on steroids. Yeah, _that's_ how badly things went.

Hephaestus waved Calypso away, and she wordlessly stood up, her face expressionless as she took a seat beside me.

"Curse the Fates," she muttered bitterly, digging her nails into her biceps. "Playing with my emotions like this."

"For what it's worth," I said, placing a hand on her shoulder. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be. It's not your fault that I'm imprisoned here."

After a few minutes, we watched as Hephaestus erupted into a column of flames, moving across the surface of the water before disappearing into the horizon.

Percy stared at the ocean, biting his bottom lip as his eyes flitted back and forth from Calypso to the sky, like he was staring at Atalanta's constellation. He then exhaled loudly, shutting his eyes for a brief moment before turning to face Calypso.

To my surprise, he didn't say anything before taking off in the other direction.

Calypso went to chase after him, but I caught her wrist, saying, "He needs some time to think."

"What do you think Hephaestus told him?"

"I think it's time to give Percy a choice."

* * *

Percy didn't come back until five fifty-three in the morning, the sunrise mere minutes away. While we'd waited for him to come back, Calypso had gone to work in her garden while I finished my book and moved onto the next one, _City of Fallen Angels._ And that got me thinking that maybe the Shadow World existed in another universe. Heck, as far as I knew, all book universes existed now. But I digress.

I read by firelight, only putting my book down once Percy arrived. Calypso hadn't noticed, still tending to her plants, which glowed in response to her magic. The Demeter kids would love her when she got to camp.

"He has ordered you to return," Calypso guessed as Percy approached, never looking up from her garden.

"Well, not ordered. He gave me a choice," Percy said.

Calypso finally looked up, her gaze meeting Percy's. "I promised I would not offer."

"Offer what?"

"For you to stay."

"Stay," he said wistfully, clearly imagining living a life on Ogygia. "Like…forever?"

"You would be immortal on this island," she said quietly. "You would never age or die. You could leave the fight to the others, Percy Jackson. You could escape your prophecy."

He stared at her, stunned. "Just like that?"

She nodded. "Just like that."

"But…my friends."

"Bad time to mention this, I know, but Percy, we've been gone for two weeks," I said. "Our friends think we're dead."

Percy's face fell, his skin turning pale very quickly. Calypso then took his hand into his own; some of the color returned to his face.

"You asked about my curse, Percy. I did not want to tell you. The truth is the gods send me companionship from time to time. Every thousand years or so, they allow a hero to wash up on my shores, someone who needs my help. I tend to him and befriend him, but it is never random. The Fates make sure that the sort of hero they send…"

Calypso's voice trembled, and she had to stop.

Percy squeezed her hand tighter. "What? What have I done to make you sad?"

"Land here," I said. "That is Calypso's curse. She falls in love with every hero that is sent to Ogygia." I turned to Calypso, who appeared to be on the verge of tears. "Odysseus almost stayed, you know. He said that he wanted to take you with him."

"But he had Penelope," Calypso said confusedly. "I thought…"

"I've spoken to his ghost, and he told me you were his biggest mystery. He wanted to come back."

Then Percy said, "Me?" like he couldn't fathom that someone like Calypso had fallen in love with him. Clearly, he was just as oblivious about Annabeth's feelings, even though she had literally kissed him before he blew up a volcano.

"If you could see your face," Calypso said, suppressing a smile. Her eyes were still cloudy with tears. "Of course, you."

"That's why you've been pulling away all this time?"

"I tried very hard. But I can't help it. The Fates are cruel."

"Amen!" I shouted, earning a genuine smile from Calypso this time. Percy stared at me in confusion, but I waved him off.

"They sent you to me, my brave one," Calypso continued, "knowing that you would break my heart."

"But…I'm just…I mean, I'm just _me."_

"That is enough. I told myself I would not even speak of this. I would let you go without even offering. But I can't. I suppose the Fates knew that, too. You could stay with me, Percy. I'm afraid that is the only way you could help me."

Percy stared at the horizon, watching the first red streaks of dawn appear. His hesitation was answer enough for Calypso, who retracted her hand back to her side.

"I can't," he told her.

She looked down sadly, but we both knew that would be his answer.

"I would never do anything to hurt you," Percy said, "but my friends need me. I know how to help them now. I have to get back."

Calypso bent down and picked up a sprig of silver moonlace from her garden. The silvery glow started to disappear as the sun's rays reached the petals. She then tucked the little sprig into the pocket of Percy's t-shirt and pressed a kiss to his forehead.

"Then come to the beach, my hero. And we will send you on your way." Calypso turned to me. "I assume you will leave with him?"

"Duty calls and all that," I said. "But, as someone who knows the Fates personally, I promise you that you will leave this island, Calypso. Maybe not now, not with Percy, but another hero will finally break your curse."

I then reached into my bag and pulled out a watch that I'd made during my training with Hephaestus. The strap was made of Celestial bronze, the arms made of gold. The watch glass changed to match the color of the sky, giving it a little pizazz that was to be expected from an Olympian apprentice. At the bottom of the watch's face was the date, which read June 26th, 2008.

"I know time is hard here, but this watch won't be affected by this place's magic. It shall move consistently until the battery dies, which won't be for another 489 years. It even accounts for Daylight Saving Time."

I helped Calypso, who'd never seen a watch before, clasp it onto her wrist. She then flexed her hand, watching as the glass turned red and pink with the morning light.

"Thank you, Andy," Calypso said, moving towards the water, where a ten-foot square raft made of logs appeared. "But you may have to send someone to bring some battery replacements. You say I will be freed, but I don't know when."

"It'll be sooner than you think."

Calypso bit her lip. "This will take you wherever you desire," she promised, gesturing to the raft. "It is quite safe."

Percy took her hand, but she let hers slip out.

"Maybe I can visit you," Percy said.

Calypso shook her head. "No man ever finds Ogygia twice, Percy. When you leave, I will never see either one of you again."

"But-"

"Go, please." Her voice broke. "The Fates are cruel, Percy. Just remember me." A little trace of her smile returned. "Plant a garden in Manhattan for me, will you?"

"I promise." Percy and I stepped onto the raft. Immediately it began to sail from the shore.

It wasn't long until the island of Ogygia faded into the morning mist, becoming a blur on the horizon. I leaned against the wooden pole that was the mast and pulled out my book, figuring that it would take us some time before returning back into the real world.

"So," I said, removing my bookmark. "Where to?"

"Camp Half-Blood," Percy told the raft. "Take us home."

* * *

Hours later we landed on the shore of Long Island Sound. Even from here, I could see the smoke rising from the amphitheater, and though I really didn't want to witness our shroud burnings, I knew we had to go anyways.

Oh gods, Chiron was going to kill me when he found out about what happened. I mean, it's not like I was in the Labyrinth or anything, but I think Mount St. Helens was too close for comfort in his opinion.

"What's going on?" Percy asked as we made our way up from the beach, not a single soul in sight.

"Remember what I told you," I said, grabbing Percy's wrist and gently leading him towards the amphitheater. "We've been gone for two weeks. And with the explosion you managed to pull off, Annabeth probably thinks we died."

Percy froze in his tracks, going deathly pale for the second time that day. "Gods, Annabeth is going to _murder_ me."

"What do you think Chiron's going to do to me? Come on, we're almost there."

The two of us snuck into the amphitheater via the back entrance, which was opposite of the altar where Chiron conducted shroud burning ceremonies. Annabeth was standing next to him, her eyes bloodshot and her hair a mess of knots. She held a torch in her hand, waiting next to a long green silk shroud with a gold trident embroidered into the fabric.

Cleo stood on the other side of Annabeth, dark circles under her eyes and red stained cheeks from her tears. There was another shroud in front of her. This one was made of a myriad of different silks, as if a child of Iris had accidently touched the silk. In the middle of the shroud, where the person's heart would be, was a silver star, an almost exact replica of the brooch I had on my bag.

"-assume they are dead," Chiron was saying. "After so long a silence, it is unlikely our prayers will be answered. I have asked their best surviving friends to do the final honors."

"Jesus, Chiron," I muttered under my breath. "Do you really think the gods wouldn't tell you if I died?"

Annabeth lowered the torch over Percy's shroud, the silk catching fire instantaneously. She then passed the torch to Cleo, who did the same thing to what I assumed was my shroud.

Annabeth then looked up to face the crowd, wiping away a stray tear that had made its way down her cheek. "They were probably the bravest friends I've ever had. They…" Then she saw us. Her face went blood red. "They're right there!"

Heads turned. People gasped.

"Bye y'all!" I shouted, promptly walking into a shadow to disappear from the fallout of our disappearance. I shadow-traveled to the back row of the amphitheater, far away from everyone else.

"Andy!" I heard Percy shout, laughing slightly as Annabeth screamed, "WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?" at the top of her lungs, shoving other campers aside. She pulled Percy into such a fierce hug that it was amazing that she hadn't broken any of his ribs. The other campers fell silent. Annabeth seemed to realize that she was making a scene and pushed Percy away. "I-we thought you were dead, Seaweed Brain!"

"I'm sorry," he said. "We got lost."

"LOST?" she yelled. "Two weeks, Percy? Where in the world-"

"Annabeth," Chiron interrupted. "Perhaps we should discuss this somewhere more private, shall we? The rest of you, back to your normal activities!"

I almost got away, too, getting as far as the ground floor before Chiron said, "This includes you too, Andromeda."

"Damn," I swore under my breath, feeling Chiron toss me onto his back behind Percy before galloping off towards the Big House.

People stared at Percy and me as we cut through camp, like they still couldn't believe we had had the audacity to come back alive after being missing for two weeks. It's not like we could've come back earlier, what with Percy being extremely weak after that burst of power and my inability to use any of my powers to get us out of there.

Back on Ogygia, I'd tried to shadow-travel myself off the island so that Percy would get to be alone with Calypso, but I was stuck. It was like Ogygia was covered in Celestial bronze saran-wrap, preventing me from using my powers, just like what had happened while I held the weight of the sky.

Anyhow, when we got to the Big House, Chiron and Annabeth interrogated the hell out of us. Annabeth was on the verge of throttling Percy with her bare hands, but Chiron's calmness and the mention of the island, which Percy refused to name, managed to bring her down a notch.

"Percy, that explosion was massive," Annabeth said, some of her anger fading. "Even if you did end up on an island, how is every bone in your body not broken right now?"

"We landed in the water," he said.

"We?" Chiron raised an eyebrow. "Then that question applies to you, Andy. How are you still in one piece?"

"When Mount St. Helens erupted, I held onto Percy to prevent Lord Zeus from blasting him out of the sky from how high we were shot up. Plus, most of my water powers are on par with Percy's, so even if I had let go of him, the water landing wouldn't have hurt me," I explained. "I regained consciousness first, so I took care of Percy until he finally came to. Then Hephaestus found us and said that we could leave. We got on a magic raft, and boom, here we are, safe and sound."

"You've been gone two weeks," Annabeth reiterated, her voice steadier than it had been earlier. "When I heard the explosion, I thought-"

"I know," Percy said. "I'm sorry. But I figured out how to get through the Labyrinth. I talked to Hephaestus."

"He told you the answer?"

"Well, he sort of told me that I already knew. And I do. I understand now."

Percy told them his idea. I informed them of the dreams I'd been having about Ariadne and Theseus, reminding both Annabeth and Chiron that I'd had that information written down in the notebooks I'd given them last winter.

"What notebooks?" Annabeth asked. "I didn't get any notes from you; neither did Clarisse."

"Chiron?" I asked, turning to face the centaur. He turned red and wouldn't meet my gaze. "What did you do with my notes?"

"I kept them in my office. The contents were far too dangerous for the others to know about."

"Whatever you say." I was scowling, but I figured there was no point in arguing over this now. What's done is done.

"Still, that idea is crazy, Percy!" Annabeth exclaimed.

Chiron sat back in his wheelchair and stroked his beard. "There is precedent, however. Like Andy was telling us, this happened with Theseus and Ariadne. Harriet Tubman, daughter of Hermes, used many mortals on her Underground Railroad for just this reason."

"But this is _my_ quest," Annabeth said, crossing her arms over her chest. " _I_ need to lead it."

Chiron looked uncomfortable. "My dear, it is your quest. But you need help."

"And _this_ is supposed to help? Please! It's wrong. It's cowardly. It's-"

"Hard to admit we need a mortal's help," Percy finished. "But it's true."

Annabeth glared at Percy, her anger returning as quickly as it had vanished. "You are the _single most annoying_ person I have ever met!" And she stormed out of the room.

"Ah, hubris," I sighed. "One of the more annoying fatal flaws, if I do say so myself."

"So much for being the bravest friend she's ever had," Percy spat bitterly, his hands curled into fists at his sides.

"She will calm down," Chiron promised. "She's jealous."

"That's stupid. She's not…it's not like…"

Both Chiron and I chuckled. "Gods, you two are so oblivious," I laughed. "No wonder it took so long."

"What?"

"Don't worry about it."

"It hardly matters," Chiron interrupted. "Annabeth is very territorial about her friends, in case you haven't noticed. She was quite worried about you. And now that you're back, I think she suspects where you were marooned."

Percy met Chiron's eyes for a moment before glancing back down at his feet. Though we hadn't mentioned Ogygia directly, Chiron had lived long enough to know that that was the only possibility for us to have disappeared to.

"We won't dwell on your choices," Chiron said. "You came back. That's what matters."

"Speaking of which," I said, "I got an offer not too long ago to leave Camp Half-Blood."

"Where would you be going?" Chiron asked, his eyes lighting up in alarm. "Has someone threatened you, ordered you to go somewhere?"

I cracked a smile at Chiron's concern. "Relax, I'm not joining the Titans. It's just that Lord Poseidon asked for me to fight at his side against the Titan of the Sea. The fighting has already begun for him."

"Then why are you still here?" Percy asked, appearing hurt that his father hadn't asked for him instead. "Shouldn't you be under the sea in the fight?"

"If you've forgotten, we're kind of under siege at the moment, Percy. I will be here until the Labyrinth threat is dealt with. But once the camp is safe again, I have to give your father my answer."

"And what do you think you're going to do?" Chiron was staring at me so intently that I thought I was going to spontaneously combust.

"It depends on what happens in the next few weeks. Because if there is the slightest chance that I can be kidnapped, I have to go."

Chiron was genuinely confused by now. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"Unless you want me to become the host for our father, I have to stay away from Kyle."

With that final statement, I turned on my heel and exited the Big House, going in search for a certain daughter of Apollo.


	39. Chapter 39

Finding Cleo hadn't been a challenge. She was in the infirmary, taking her anger out on one of those realistic, anatomically correct bodies, cracking its ribs with a rib spreader. Some of the other campers that were stuck in beds looked like they wanted to throw up at the sound of ribs cracking. But it was just a model, so the most harm Cleo was doing was bending plastic.

Luke had been next to Cleo, appearing kind of green himself. He had a hand pressed to his sternum, like he was making sure that it wasn't him on the infirmary bed rather than a fake cadaver.

"Is that what happened when you operated on me?" Luke asked, tracing the scar that ran the length of his sternum through his shirt.

"Not exactly." I then told Luke the watered down version of how we basically removed most of his ribcage, which only made it sound worse than it actually was.

"Oh, gods," Luke groaned, clutching his stomach. "I think I'm going to be sick."

"Not in here!" Cleo scolded, looking up once the rib spreaders were as wide as they could go. "I just mopped!"

I handed Luke a barf bag, which he gratefully accepted before rushing off towards the front door. He could deal with burns, cuts, and poison, but surgery scared him? I guess that's normal; but who was I to say what's normal?

"Welcome back from the Land of the Dead," Cleo said, making sure to roll her eyes at me before picking up a scalpel and delicately dragging it across the dummy's lung.

"Aren't you supposed to heal those hurt?" I asked, wincing as fake blood started oozing from the punctured lung.

"I am." She set the scalpel down and picked up a suture kit. "But this is a good way to practice without having to use real cadavers or people."

"Did she say she's going to cut into us?" one of the campers shouted.

"Oh, Hades no! I won't become some med-toy today!"

"Calm yourselves," Will snapped at the three campers. "We practice on fake cadavers, not real people. It's how we train."

"Weirdos," the third one muttered.

"I wouldn't call them that," I said, stepping out from behind the gray curtain that separated where Cleo was from the rest of the infirmary beds. "When you're bleeding out, they're the ones making sure you live to see the next sunrise. Watch what you say about the children of Apollo."

"Exactly!" Will said, nodding enthusiastically. It was kind of dark, actually, to think that an eleven-year-old had more training in saving lives than first year med students, who were usually around twenty-eight-years-old, but such is the life of a demigod.

And that was the end of that argument, allowing for Will to finish filling out charts while Cleo worked in silence.

Cleo would stick out her tongue in concentration as she passed the suture in and out of the laceration, not even fazed when a squirt of blood got her right in the neck. "Oops," she said, gently prodding the lung with her finger. "Looks like the heart got cut, too."

Seeing that I'd been trained in this type of thing by Apollo, I gave Cleo tips whenever she got stuck, which she greatly appreciated. It was nice doing this. It was almost like a normal day at camp. If only it wasn't for the fact that Cleo was going to die within the next few weeks, I'd feel more comfortable about the sheer normalcy of it all.

Luke, who had only recently come back from wherever he'd gone off to, immediately fainted at the sight of Cleo cutting into the dummy's sternum with a bone saw. I managed to catch him before he landed on the floor, Cleo, Will, and I all laughing as I did so.

"Never thought the great Luke Castellan would be so squeamish at the sight of blood," Will remarked, laughing as he grabbed Luke's legs, the both of us hoisting him into an infirmary bed.

"Everyone's got something that makes them tick. Like, I hate most bugs, arachnids, and snakes, _especially_ snakes."

"I thought you liked nature!"

"Oh, I do, but mostly the plant side of it all."

"Makes sense," Will shrugged. "I mean, all Apollo kids fear the dark. Why do you think our cabin glows even at night? We have so many nightlights, it's like you're sleeping with someone shining a flashlight in your eyes."

Our conversation was interrupted when I heard a, "Yes! I'm done!" from Cleo. She threw back the curtain and gestured towards the dummy, whose chest was stitched up in the shape of an upside down Y. As for Cleo, she had fake blood covering her gloved hands, and some had managed to land on her clothes, neck, and arms as well. But she didn't seem to care, extremely proud with having done her "surgery" successfully.

"I'm going to be sick!" one of the campers exclaimed, and Will rushed off, barely returning in time with an empty bucket before the sound of someone heaving filled the infirmary. Geez, who knew so many demigods were squeamish around blood?

Cleo rolled her eyes at the demigod and drew the curtain shut again. The next time she opened it, she was wearing stain free clothing, and the dummy plus the bloodied equipment were nowhere in sight.

"Will you hold down the fort for a little while?" Cleo asked Will, who was holding out the vomit-filled bucket while his nose was scrunched up in disgust.

"Sure thing. I'll page you if I need you."

"Sounds good to me." Cleo turned up the volume on her pager and clipped it to the waistband of her shorts. "Come on, Andy. You and I have some catching up to do."

* * *

There had been no evening activity that night. Chiron deemed it a cabin's night, meaning that we could do whatever we wanted within our own cabins, including staying up past curfew. However, a couple cabins wanted to have a little campfire of their own, and Chiron allowed that so long as the senior counselors promised to keep the younger ones under control.

Percy was in no mood to join the impromptu campfire. He was already mentally exhausted from being chewed out by Annabeth, and the lack of Tyson and Grover's presence wasn't helping matters, either.

I offered to smuggle in a DVD player and some CDs or to play some board games that I had under my bed, but Percy merely shook his head, saying that he wanted to go to bed early. I didn't pry.

I turned off the lights to the cabin but kept the light above my bunk on. Just because Percy wanted to sleep didn't mean I had to go to bed yet.

Pulling out my phone, I plugged in my earbuds and began listening to some music as I pulled out the last book of the Mortal Instruments and started to read. I'd gotten a few chapters in before I heard a familiar guitar rift.

The blood drained from my face as I dropped _City of Heavenly Fire,_ trying to find my phone, which had gotten lost in the cocoon of blankets I'd made.

"Six schools in six years," Chris McCarrell's voice sang, only furthering my panic. I knew my music traveled with me, but if Percy, or anyone else for that matter, heard this album, I would be so massively screwed that not even the Fates themselves could help me. "Been kicked out of every place. Everything I do is wrong. Never find where I belong. Everybody on my case."

"Crap," I muttered, frantically shoving through my blankets. "Crap, crap, crap."

I finally found my phone, but in my hurry to find it, I accidentally yanked out my headphones. And seeing that the last person who had used it had been Calypso, my volume was all the way up, so that the lines, "Pack your bags, Percy. You're always to blame!" blared out loud.

I've never hit the pause button harder in my life, immediately shutting off my phone and shoving it back into my bag.

With my heart hammering in my chest, I glanced at Percy, breathing a small sigh of relief when I saw that he was still sleeping. Still, I watched him for another five minutes, making sure that this was a deep sleep, not something that he could easily snap out of and ask me why his name was in a song I was listening to.

Once I felt I was in the clear, I leaned out of my bunk to pick up my discarded book, apologizing profusely to the inanimate object like the nerd that I am. Seriously, my books were my babies, and God have mercy on anyone who hurt them.

"Hey, Andy," Percy said three minutes later, which sent my pulse racing again. Did he hear the song? Did I have to reverse time on him, _again?_ "Can I talk to you?"

"Sure thing, squirt." I pulled my knees to my chest and patted the space next to me. "Bad dream?"

"You can say that again." Percy got into my bed and pulled one of the sheets over his shoulders like a cape. "Kyle found a lone half-blood in the Labyrinth. And he said something about that being a blessing from you-know-who. Are they really that close, Andy?"

I fiddled with the edge of my blanket. "Last time I dreamt of him, I heard that all that they needed was one more follower. If Kyle gets his hands on this half-blood, there's going to be trouble."

"What's new?" Percy scoffed, leaning against the wall. "Trouble is my middle name."

"Perseus Trouble Jackson." I laughed. "Nah, that doesn't sound right."

"Sounds better than my real middle name."

"Really? What is it?"

Percy burrowed his face into his knees in embarrassment. "Promise not to tell Annabeth or Thalia?"

I held my hand up. "Scout's honor."

He rolled his eyes. "We both know you weren't a Girl Scout."

"Whatever, squirt. Still, in all seriousness, I promise I won't tell anyone."

"My middle name is James."

I felt my eyes widen. Back home, I'd read a ton of fanfictions where Percy's middle name typically was Achilles or some other Greek hero's name. I would've never guessed his middle name to be James.

"In honor of my grandpa," Percy explained. "His name was James, but he went by Jim. I never got a chance to meet him."

"Because of the plane crash," I said. Percy nodded. "Does your mom ever tell you stories about them?"

"Not really. Since they died when she was five, she doesn't remember much about them."

"Would you like to meet them?"

Percy blanched. "Do you have Hades' powers too? Like Nico?"

"As in the ability to summon ghosts?" He nodded. "Yeah, I can do that. I usually get mistaken as a daughter of Hades from how often I use shadows when I fight."

Percy snorted at that, fighting off a forming smile. "No offense to Nico or Hades, but you don't look anything like them. And you're not as intimidating as them."

"Then again, you've known me since you were seven," I reminded him. "So, want to meet Jim and Estelle Jackson?"

"Sure. It's not like I'm going to get any more sleep tonight."

"Okay, give me a few minutes. By the way, want anything from McDonalds?"

"What is it with ghosts and McDonalds?" Percy exclaimed, throwing his hands up in exasperation.

I shrugged. "Whatever works, I guess."

"Fine, bring me a Coke and some fries, please."

"Sounds like a plan."

I returned to the cabin ten minutes later, holding four Happy Meals in my hands as well as a medium Coke and fries. I handed Percy his stuff before gesturing for him to follow me into the woods. We didn't need to go that far, but I didn't want any of the other campers to see us. Last thing I needed was for another traitor to tell Kronos that I could control the dead.

We stopped in front of a ditch, and after making sure there wasn't anyone around, I started pouring the Happy Meals into the ditch while chanting in Ancient Greek. The temperature dropped around us, like we'd walked into Costco's industrial sized freezer. The moonlight turned menacing, reminding me how unnatural this was and how glad I was that I typically never had to use this ability.

"Jim and Estelle Jackson," I said as spirits approached to drink. Just in case, I'd pulled out my Stygian iron hunting knives in case I had to dispel an uncooperative shade.

Two of the shades knelt at the ditch and drank, their bodies then solidifying enough for Percy and me to make out in the night. The man on the left, Jim, was around 5'10" and had warm brown eyes with dark brown hair. His wife, Estelle, was only an inch shorter, and she too had the same eyes and hair as Jim. But what they clearly passed onto Sally was their smiles, the kind that could make anyone feel good merely by being in their presence.

"Hello, Miss," Estelle said kindly, bowing her head reverently in my direction.

"How may we serve you?" Jim asked.

"You needn't serve me," I said, which I knew would confuse the two shades. "I just wanted to introduce you to your grandson, Percy Jackson."

"Um, hi?" Percy asked, cringing at his own awkwardness.

"Oh my, he's precious!" Estelle cried, rushing over to Percy, attempting to pinch his cheeks. But whenever she got too close to his skin, her own incorporeal body would dissipate as if made from mist, which technically, it was. "You have Jim's smile and Sally's hair."

"Really?" Percy scratched the back of his neck, unsure of how to act in front of his dead grandparents. "I was told I look like an exact replica of my dad."

"Nonsense," Jim replied, attempting to ruffle Percy's unruly locks. "You have more of your mother in you than anyone else. Who else would be willing to hold the weight of the sky to save a friend?"

Percy's eyes widened in shock. I won't lie, mine did too. "How did you know about that?" he asked.

"Gossip travels fast in the Underworld," I explained. "Asphodel is dreadfully boring."

"Sure is. Wish I had some of my airplane books to read down there."

Estelle lightly slapped the back of Jim's head. "You and airplanes. Surprised you're not afraid of them, seeing how we died."

I winced. "For your information, I was told that there was a mechanical error in two of the engines that the crew ignored. The remaining survivors sued the airline, and they won."

"Good," Estelle huffed. "At least that teaches people to not ignore mechanical issues in airplane engines. Anyhow, how is our Sally doing? She was so young when we left."

"Mom's doing very well," Percy said, finally warming up to his grandparents once he saw that they weren't going to hurt him. "She's working for her English literature bachelor as well as writing a novel. Um, she's dating a guy called Paul Blofis that makes her very happy."

"Blowfish, did you say?" Jim asked.

"Blowfis," Percy repeated. "B-l-f-s-o…I mean B-f-w."

"B-l-o-w-f-i-s," I spelled, earning a grateful look from Percy.

"Stupid dyslexia."

"Tell me about it." Jim rolled his eyes. "Nothing worse than loving to read and having letters fly off the page. Want to know something? It's helpful if you have pictures or someone else to read to you. God knows that's what Estelle did."

"How you didn't fall asleep hearing me prattle on about the engines of biplanes is beyond me," Estelle said. "But whatever makes you happy, dearest."

Their bodies flickered, and I knew it was time for them to return to the Underworld. It didn't help that the other spirits were starting to get restless, wanting to take a drink from the McDonald's filled ditch.

"It's time to go," I said sadly, watching as Jim and Estelle linked hands, shooting Percy loving looks and wide smiles.

"You go and be the best hero you can be, sport," Jim said.

"And tell Sally that we love her," Estelle added. "We love you both dearly, Percy. Don't forget that."

The two then dissipated into nothingness.

I slashed my knives over the ditch, and the rest of the shades vanished as well. Then, I bent down and picked up the leftovers, not wanting for the nymphs to leave a whole bunch of creepy crawlies in my bunk for littering.

"What'd you think of your grandparents?"

"They're literally older versions of my mom," Percy said fondly, bending down to help me clean up. "I can see why Mom grew up a happy child for her first five years."

"Speaking of which, what are you going to tell her tomorrow?"

Percy's face went red. "How do you know about that?"

"Gossip spreads faster here than in Asphodel."

"Well, if it goes as well as I think it does, I'm going to need another burial shroud."

I laughed and stood up, throwing an arm over Percy's shoulders as we walked back to our cabin, sipping Cokes and eating fries.

* * *

Tension began growing in Camp Half-Blood not too long after Percy and Annabeth had departed again, in search of Rachel Elizabeth Dare to lead them through the perilous Labyrinth. Meanwhile, the rest of us trained every available minute of the day, the only exceptions being Beckendorf, Nyssa, and James from the Hephaestus cabin and Clarisse, who had started to spend most of her days caring for Chris Rodriguez.

Things had gotten so bad that Chiron canceled all activities in favor of training only, and seeing that Quintus had disappeared a few weeks back, I was to take his place as the swordsmanship instructor. Luke was still teaching our hand-to-hand combat class, but seeing that we were most likely going to be armed when the time came, he switched to teaching the younger kids how to wield daggers and knives as if they were extensions of their hands.

During the night, some of the senior counselors would patrol the woods, making sure that nothing slipped past the camper on sentry duty right by Zeus's Fist. Lately we'd been hearing strange rumbling noises from the pile of rocks, like an army was marching right in our direction, which was exactly what was happening.

But since time worked differently in the Labyrinth, I knew we still had some time before the attack against camp began.

Personally, I felt like a compressed spring as I counted down the days for Kyle's army to come bursting into the woods, my muscles taut like I was expecting to be ambushed anytime I was by myself. And who knows? Maybe I would be. I seriously doubt that Silena would be the only traitor in this timeline, especially since another child of Aphrodite's name had appeared on my list of people that would die in place of someone else.

And if there is another traitor at camp, then that means I'm not safe. There was still four days to go until the attack, and if I did the math correctly, Ethan Nakamura didn't pledge his loyalty to Kronos until a few hours before the Battle of the Labyrinth began.

"Christ sakes," I muttered under my breath before jumping back, narrowly avoiding Luke's slash towards my abdomen.

I parried his sword away from me, adding just enough force to make Luke's grip on his hilt awkward, giving me time to go for his undefended side. Between the two of us, we were a flurry of slashes, stabs, and parries, neither one of us able to get the other to concede no matter how exhausted we both were.

"You're distracted," Luke commented as he easily sidestepped one of my swings, making a wild slash at my legs.

I forced Luke's sword down into the ground, and within seconds, various vines encased the Celestial bronze blade, prohibiting Luke from picking it up again. "Am I?" I asked coolly, pressing the button on the hilt of Epithymia before the charm returned to my bracelet.

"Hey, that's not fair!" Luke pulled at his sword, violently jerking the hilt in his direction, but all he succeeded in doing was getting the vines to wrap around his hand as well, immobilizing it. "I thought we weren't using powers this round."

"That was last round," I reminded him. Then I snapped my fingers, causing for the vines to collapse and slowly shrink their way back into the ground. "This time everything was fair game."

Luke muttered about how he hadn't known that, bending down to pick up his fallen sword. The wings at the heels of his sneakers flapped irritably as well, like they were also annoyed about the fact that Luke hadn't used them during the fight.

"Rematch?" he asked, casually twirling his sword in the palm of his hand, completely unaffected by the fact that both of us were completely drenched in sweat from our fights as well as the brutal sunlight. You would think Apollo would try to make things easier on the kids about to fight for their lives, but apparently he wanted us to have a nice tan before we died.

"We've been at this for five hours now." I grabbed my water bottle and drank the rest of its contents, sighing in relief as my throat no longer felt like sandpaper. "We have classes to teach in a few minutes, and it's not going to do anyone any good if we're too tired to instruct."

"Boo, you're no fun," Luke said, but he actually seemed kind of relieved, seeming a little too eager to sheath his sword.

"Yeah, well, we're about to go to war. This isn't about having fun; it's about staying alive."

Just then the Stoll brothers came running by screaming the lyrics to "Stayin' Alive" by the Bee Gees at the top of their lungs while an Ares boy, Sherman, chased them with his spear in hand. It didn't take long for me to realize why Sherman was out for Travis and Connor's blood. The two had covered Sherman from head to toe in bright pink paint that was mixed with something foul smelling, like someone had put various rotten eggs into a gallon of curdled milk and left it to sit out in the sweltering heat.

I scrunched my nose in disgust and turned away from the screaming Stoll brothers. Luke face palmed, muttering, "I can't believe I'm related to those two," as he glanced upwards, watching the three boys fade in the distance.

"Siblings," I said. "You can't live with or without them."

Luke raised his eyebrows. "How would you know? You don't have any siblings – mortal ones, anyways."

"Raised in an orphanage, remember? Those girls were practically my sisters for the first fourteen years of my life."

"Oh, right." He was visibly uncomfortable, like he didn't know how to react to the fact that I was an orphan.

It's not like I really cared about explaining my experience, because nothing ever got to the point of being traumatizing. Sure, Kathleen, Mandy, and Ilene made my life a nightmare within the orphanage, but it was nothing I couldn't handle. For as much as they were bullies, they had enough sense of morality to not physically abuse me. However, I can't say the same thing about their choice of words.

"It's fine, Luke," I said. "You can ask me about my time in the orphanage; I don't care. It's not like I had a home beforehand, anyways."

"What do you mean?"

I paused. "Did I not tell you about my life before I came to camp?"

"Not really, no. All I know is that you were an orphan who escaped an abusive adoptive family, met up with us, and ended up here in Camp Half-Blood." Luke pursed his lips together. "Why do you think so many kids here are wary of you? No one knows anything about you, Andy, other than what I know and that you trained under the Olympians for five years of your life. You're an enigma to them, and it doesn't help that you have so many powers, either. To new and younger campers, you're terrifying."

I started racking my brain, thinking of all the conversations that involved my explaining my past to others. I realized that the majority of the time I was forced to disclose those details to the gods, never really getting into the nitty gritty of things with people. Sure, there were a few exceptions like Cleo, Percy, Annabeth, Nico, Bianca, Leo, and Hazel, but even those were a few sparse details here and there. Other than that, I didn't have a clear recollection of ever explaining my past to anyone.

"Well, I'll have to tell you about myself sometime," I told Luke, who had started to set up the arena for his class. "But not right now. First we train."

"Fine," Luke conceded. "But I want the full story once this damned attack is over."

"Deal."

The two of us shook hands, and I left, heading to set up for my own class. But I didn't make it far before a familiar pressure appeared in my head, like someone had just shoved a burning hot poker between my eyes.

I stumbled and braced myself against a nearby tree, my vision swimming as I waited for whatever message or vision to show itself. Whoever was trying to contact me was having a hard time, because all I heard was the hum of static, which quickly grew irritating.

"Hurry up," I pleaded, clutching at my head in agony. Gods forbid this happens during the battle, but I'd like to think that the Fates knew better than to send a vision in a life or death situation.

" _We're heading back to camp,"_ I heard Percy's voice faintly echo in my mind. _"But we're not alone. Get ready. They're coming."_

Percy's presence exited my mind, my vision correcting itself soon after. I swore under my breath as I took off for the Big House, where Chiron had been preparing for his master's archery class. My head pounded like I'd been whacked upside the head with a hammer, but I shoved the discomfort aside and stood in front of Chiron, my chest heaving as I attempted to catch my breath from my burst of manic speed.

"Andy, my dear," Chiron said, a worried expression on his face as he slung his quiver over his shoulder. "What's wrong?"

"The attack," I said between breaths. "It's beginning."


	40. Chapter 40

**Hi guys! I've been getting this question a lot, so let me answer it now - this story will go through the Blood of Olympus. I'm not 100% sure if I'll go into Trials of Apollo, but it's still too early to tell. Enjoy the chapter!**

* * *

Before I suited up, I downed two Tylenols and drenched myself with the shower inside the Big House, feeling newfound strength fill my limbs. Now I was kind of wishing that Luke and I hadn't been training for so long, but at least the shower helped with the lethargy and soreness, which would be invaluable during the fight.

Once I had told Chiron about the incoming attack, he blew the conch horn three times, a sign that every camper understood. Immediately, campers dropped what they were doing to get dressed in battle armor and get their weapons of choice before monsters burst out of the Labyrinth.

I met up with Chiron in the middle of the cabin area, readjusting my greaves and vambraces once I stopped. No one ever said armor was comfortable, but I'd rather be uncomfortable than dead.

Up in the sky, I could make out various splotches of colors that were quickly growing bigger as they approached the ground. Some Apollo kids wanted to shoot the pegasi out of the sky, but I told them not to, promising them that these were allies, not our enemies.

Within a few moments, Tyson, Grover, Annabeth, Percy, and Nico were dismounting Blackjack, Guido, Porkpie, and Star. Chiron, Silenus, and I watched as the five approached us, their faces solemn as they noticed what was going on.

Of the five, Grover was farthest back, trying to stay as far away from Silenus as possible. I'd only ever encountered the old satyr a handful of times, and he was about as pleasant as slamming your toes into the corner of a door. Even Mr. D disliked Silenus, which is saying something seeing as he was the lord of all satyrs after Pan disappeared. Well, died by now, but you get the point.

Percy began recounting of the new information they'd gathered while on Annabeth's quest: that Quintus was Daedalus all along and that Kronos had finally risen. Some of the nearby archers heard this and paled, immediately beginning to spread the word amongst the rest of the campers. Great, because we needed to cause widespread panic before a major battle. That makes perfect sense.

"I feared as much," Chiron said. "We must hurry. Hopefully you have slowed down the Titan lord, but his vanguard will still be coming through. They will be anxious for blood. Most of our defenders are already in place. Come!"

"Wait a moment," Silenus demanded, earning a scowl from me. He was wasting time. "What of the search for Pan? You are almost three weeks overdue, Grover Underwood! Your searcher's license is revoked!"

Grover took a deep breath and stepped forward, towering over Silenus by a good five or six inches. He met the old goat's eyes. "Searcher's licenses don't matter anymore. The great god Pan is dead. He has passed on and left us his spirit."

 _"What?"_ Silenus's face turned bright red. "Sacrilege and lies! Grover Underwood, I will have you exiled for speaking thus!"

"It's true," Percy insisted. "We were there when he died. All of us."

"Impossible! You are all liars! Nature-destroyers!"

"Oh for the love of – please, shut up!" I shouted angrily at Silenus. "We're under attack right now, if you haven't noticed, _Silenus._ Pan has waited for thousands of years, so this issue can wait until after this is over. Now, let these campers get ready for battle before I kick your furry rump from here to kingdom come."

Silenus paled at my words and scampered away, most likely to go slander Grover's name to the rest of the satyrs within camp.

"This matter _will_ be discussed, my dear satyr," Chiron promised Grover, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder for a few moments. "Assuming we are still here this evening, that is."

And on that happy note, the rest of us followed Chiron into the woods towards Zeus's Fist. Some of the Ares campers provided Percy and Nico with armor while Annabeth turned down the offer, saying that her siblings would've brought her armor out with them. As for Tyson and Grover, well, the former didn't really need armor, and I used wood and vines to make a nature-inspired chest plate for my favorite satyr.

In the area surrounding Zeus's Fist, all the campers were here, including some of the younger ones. We'd been trying to keep all those younger than ten out of the fighting, but if we did that, we wouldn't have the numbers to survive the first wave of the onslaught. As it was, we only had thirty-six campers, not nearly enough to withstand the thousands of monsters that were waiting to come through the Labyrinth and slaughter us all.

I left Chiron to deal with the questers while I went and found Cleo, who was fiddling with her bowstring as she sat up in a tree. Strapped to her waist were two daggers for when she ran out of arrows, but she looked hesitant to use them, flinching every time her hand accidentally brushed one of the hilts.

I scaled up the tree and sat in an adjacent branch, summoning my bow as well. Chiron had told me a few weeks back that he didn't want me in close-quarter combat until we knew where reinforcements were going to be needed, so in the meantime, I was to be an archer.

"Hey," I said, giving Cleo what I hope was a smile, ignoring the sinking feeling in my stomach. I'd be witnessing my best friend's death today, something I wasn't ready for no matter how much I tried to prepare myself.

"Hi," she responded. She smiled weakly, her fingers continuing to pluck at her bowstring like it was the lyre she played during campfires. "Beautiful day, huh?"

Cleo was right, of course. The sun was quickly racing towards the horizon, and though I knew we'd have natural light for at least four more hours, the sky was already turning pink and purple and orange. It was such a pretty sight for such a depressing day.

"No," I said, shaking my head. "The sky may be beautiful, but this day is not."

"Hey, let the dying girl get to say her bit, will you?" Cleo joked, her blue eyes still illuminated with mirth despite the fact that the monsters were moments away from storming the camp.

I held up my hands in surrender. "Whatever you say, Cleo."

She laughed and rested comfortably against the trunk of the tree, seeming perfectly at peace with herself. "I'm not afraid to die, Andy," she said, reaching over and putting her hand in my own. "I am a daughter of Apollo, and a damn good one at that, so if my death helps save the camp, then I am at peace with the Fates' decision. I'd just like to say that you're my best friend, like the older sister I never had. Thank you for being a part of my life, Andromeda Lilliana Collins. It's been an honor to know you."

"The honor was all mine, Cleo Bethany Russo," I said, blinking back the tears that shone in my eyes. "And just for the record, you're like the sister I never had, too."

The two of us reached over the branches to give each other a side hug, holding onto each other for a few moments longer than we normally would've. Cleo then gave me a sheet of paper, telling me that I couldn't read it until after the battle was won.

"But-" I started, only to be interrupted by Clarisse shouting, "Lock shields!"

Then my father's army exploded from the Labyrinth.

* * *

Lastrygonians, _dracaenae,_ hellhounds, and telkhines burst forth from the Labyrinth in organized waves, attacking everything in their paths. While the Hephaestus cabin used catapults to bury some of the Lastrygonians under rocks, those that escaped went for the Ares phalanx, tossing a dozen kids aside as if they were ragdolls.

The campers on the forest floor were quickly forced into close-quarter combat, drawing their swords and shields and spears as they fought snake women and seal-dog demons and hounds the size of Sherman tanks.

While all this was going on, Cleo and I were calmly shooting into the fray, making sure to avoid fellow campers whenever possible. Chiron did this as well, standing perfectly still among all the fighting, mechanically reaching back to grab another arrow the moment he released his bowstring. Percy was standing next to him, Riptide tightly gripped in his hand as he waited for Chiron's signal for reinforcements.

"GO!" Chiron finally ordered, and I knew that was as much my signal as it was Percy's.

But before I jumped out of the tree, I gave Cleo my quiver, which was enchanted with unlimited arrows, and wished her luck.

By the time my feet touched the ground, I had my two hunting knives in my hand, slashing fatal blows at any monster that dared to challenge me. While Percy charged to help the satyrs and the sons of Dionysus, Castor and Pollux, I ran towards a dozen _dracaenae_ that were making their way towards the camp.

"Nico! Andy!" Percy shouted, gesturing in the direction of camp before returning his attention the hellhound he was currently fighting.

Nico and I shared a look for a split second before he took a deep breath and pointed his sword at the ground. "Serve me," he said, and the ground immediately responded by creating a large fissure in front of the snake women.

From the fissure, a dozen undead warriors dressed from various eras – U.S. Revolutionaries, Roman centurions, Napoleonic soldiers on cavalry – appeared. The undead climbed onto solid ground, drew their weapons, and charged at the _dracaenae._ Almost immediately afterward, Nico crumpled to his knees, his face turning slightly yellowish from overuse of his powers.

"Dammit, Nico," I swore, pulling out a crushed piece of ambrosia from the inside of my breastplate – don't worry, it was in a plastic bag – and force feeding him the godly food. Then, after quickly scanning the area, I moved Nico behind a bush that was far enough from the fray that he wouldn't be discovered but close enough that he'd be able to join back in the fight if he woke up.

I ran back into the fray, driving one of my knives deep into the chest of a telkhine as I parried a blow from a _dracaena,_ immediately severing her arm the moment she doubled over in pain when I nicked her with my other knife. I then gave her a haircut starting at the neck before moving onto the next monster.

And though I'd gotten into a pretty good rhythm, that all ended when the earth started shaking like we were standing over the epicenter of an earthquake, knocking me onto my butt. Then, from the already destroyed pile of boulders that was once Zeus's Fist, the horrific monster known as Kampê shot up into the sky, displaying her bat wings in its full fifty-foot wingspan.

I said some very unflattering things about one of the worst monster's in Greek mythology as she pocketed Ariadne's string in the mouth of lion head at her waist and drew her poisoned scimitars instead. Unsurprisingly, any camper that had the unfortunate experience of catching a glimpse of Kampê screamed and ran. Some of the runners were quickly trampled by hellhounds or giants.

" _Di Immortales!"_ Chiron yelled. He released three arrows in quick succession, each one easily evaded by the ginormous snake-headed, multi-animal-waist-ed Kampê.

Tyson then stood up from the giant that he'd just knocked unconscious by beating them over the head with a shield. He ran towards the campers, shouting, "Stand! Do not run from her! Fight!"

Brave words for a Cyclops, or for anyone else in general, but so many campers were fighting for their lives or were already dead, so there weren't that many options of people to fight Kampê. However, Percy and Annabeth decided they'd take on Kampê. I'd keep an eye on them, but right now, there were still way too many monsters on the forest floor for my liking.

"Alright," I mumbled, cracking my neck as I twirled my knives in my hands. "Playtime is over."

Fire raced the length of both my knives, making my attacks much more effective than they had been before. Not only was Stygian iron one of the best metals to use because of its soul-sucking properties, but mixed with fire, it was twice as deadly.

Eventually, like I'd seen in my dream, a stray _empousa_ had found me, and there was a group of five _dracaenae_ behind me closing in on Cleo. From where I was, I could hear her struggling to keep the snake-women away from her, but I couldn't do anything as this vampire with mix-match legs lunged at me with her fangs bared.

I merely ducked and stabbed the _empousa_ directly in the center of her chest with my blade alight, causing for her body to disintegrate from the stab wound outward. I whirled around, hoping that I'd be able to at least take down one of the _dracaenae_ that wanted to kill Cleo, but I turned just in time to watch the three spear tips of a tridents get pushed through Cleo's chest, blood immediately bursting from her mouth.

Her body crumpled to the floor the second the _dracaena_ yanked her trident out of Cleo, her eyes already glazed over. She was still holding onto her daggers, but her grip was slack now, meaning that if anyone tried to take her daggers, they could do so easily. By Cleo's feet, her bow lay discarded, the string severed and arms severely cracked. An empty quiver remained strapped to her back, but for the life of me, I couldn't find the quiver I'd given her.

I rushed forward, pulling Cleo into my lap and brushing her golden locks, ignoring the rest of the battle going on around me.

"Look at this," one of the _dracaena_ sneered, jabbing her spear at me. "She cared for the girl."

"You will pay for her death!" I shouted, tears burning in my eyes as I felt my skin begin to heat up.

"Yeah?" the _dracaena_ with the blood stained trident said. "And what are _you_ going to do about it?"

I smirked evilly. "I thought you'd never ask."

I stabbed my hunting knives into the ground before standing up, holding my palms out towards the _dracaenae_ responsible for Cleo's death.

"What are you going to do?" a third one taunted. "Act like a mime?"

I then acted like I was in an invisible box, but the moment one of the _dracaenae_ took a step in my direction, I pushed outwards, Greek fire streaming from my palms as I screamed in anguish, pulling on every painful memory I knew of.

Within seconds all that was left behind were piles of dust and weapons.

I picked up the bloodied trident and chucked it at a nearby hellhound, watching as it sank into the flank of the beast. As for the other weapons, I hid them behind another bush before picking up my hunting knives once more.

But before I went back into battle, I stooped back down by Cleo and shut her eyes. " _Ave atque vale,"_ I said, taking her daggers from her hands and sheathing them at my waist. Not that I needed them at the moment, but they could be used for future campers.

Just then I caught sight of two kids get thrown to the ground, Kampê pressing down on the both of them. Percy and Annabeth, I remembered, running in their direction as Kampê lowered her scimitars, prepared to kill them.

"No!" I shouted, and as I was about to shadow-travel them out of there, a large mass of black fur slammed into Kampê, knocking her sideways.

"Good girl!" I heard someone shout from the entrance of the Labyrinth. Sure enough, there was Daedalus and Briares fighting their way through enemies.

The mass of fur had been Mrs. O'Leary, who was snapping at Kampê while Percy and Annabeth struggled back onto their feet.

As for Briares, in each of his hundred arms, he held a huge chunk of rock, poised to throw at a moment's notice.

"Briares!" Tyson exclaimed, wonder evident in his voice.

"Hail, little brother!" Briares bellowed. "Stand firm!"

The second Mrs. O'Leary jumped out of the way Briares launched his rocks at Kampê so quickly that her pile of boulders was almost as large as Zeus's Fist. I didn't think he'd be too happy to find out about that, being the egotistical maniac he is. Anyhow, the only way you could tell that Kampê was there in the first place was that the ends of her scimitars were pointing out of the pile like reindeer antlers. The green glow had vanished from the blades as well, meaning that she had been sent back to Tartarus for another thousand years, hopefully.

The monsters were scared now, and many looked like they wanted to escape back into the Labyrinth. But one of the _dracaenae_ shouted, "Ssssslay them! Kill them all or Kronossss will flay you alive!"

"Of course he would," I scoffed as I dragged my knives through a giant's nasty, hairy, smelly legs.

That threat had been enough to make the monsters surge one last time. One of the giants had caught Chiron from behind and slammed his club into the centaur's hind legs, sending him sprawling instantly. Six other giants cried in glee and rushed forward.

"No!" Percy shouted, and I immediately shadow-traveled behind the giant that had broken Chiron's legs. I managed to shove my knives through his stomach before Grover let out a scream that sounded like every single brass instrument being played at the same time while being hooked up to a speaker at full volume – the sound of pure fear.

Instantly, every remaining monster scrambled over each other trying to get back into the Labyrinth. The _dracaenas_ were trampled by the Lastrygonians, enemy half-bloods ran over each other, and the telkhines and hellhounds fought over who could escape first.

But I wasn't going to let so many of these monsters return to my father just yet.

I ran towards the Labyrinth, hearing Chiron shout, "Andy, no!" before plunging into the darkness alongside the surviving monsters.

I'd finally stepped foot inside the Labyrinth.

* * *

"That was close," one of the demigods commented, removing his helmet as he panted for breath.

"Too close," a second agreed. "I only got nicked by an arrow, but Elisa, Mason, and Enrique are dead."

The first demigod cursed. "I thought they weren't trying to kill us!"

"They weren't. They were killed by the very monsters Kronos sent us with."

"Ugh, how are we supposed to get back without the stupid string? Kampê's dead and took the string with her."

"Perhaps I can be of some assistance," I said, illuminating myself with a single flame at the end of my index finger. There was no need to give them a clear view of my face.

Immediately, the duo drew their swords and pointed the tips at my chest. But I could tell they didn't have the strength to try and attack; they were shaking like leaves in the wind, their teeth audibly chattering in fear.

"Who are you?" the girl asked.

"No one you need to know," I replied. "Just know that Kronos sends his regards."

I immediately extinguished my fire, hearing the two demigods grope blindly in the dark trying to find me. With the hilt of Cleo's daggers, I knocked both of them unconscious and handcuffed them together. I then pulled out some rope from my bag and tied an end off on the girl's ankle before heading in the direction of the fading footsteps.

For some reason, the Labyrinth was still intact, though I didn't know for how much longer. If I was down here when Daedalus died, who knows what would happen.

I was able to find the monsters that stormed Camp Half-Blood, and before they could sense my presence, I froze time around all of them. Let's just say I had a lot of fun running them all through with my knives, making sure they'd never be able to make it back to my father's base on Mt. Tam.

Once I dropped the spell, the tunnel began to tremble around me, in the same way it had right before a ton of monsters invaded camp. Holding onto the rope, I ran back to the kids, grabbed them both, and shadow-traveled us back to the mortal world just as the tunnels began to cave in.

"Dammit, Nico," I said for the second time that day, wishing that he'd have a little more faith in my ability to dispel monsters quickly.

As for the kids, I wasn't going to leave them to die in the Labyrinth, nor was I going to allow them to return to Mt. Tam. So that gave me two options: bring them back to Camp Half-Blood and have Chiron decide what to do with them or leave them to their own devices, which will inevitably end up with them returning to Kronos.

I sighed but had the shadows take me to Camp Half-Blood anyways, knowing that these kids were just misled, not that they were really evil.

I managed to arrive just in time for the shroud burnings that night. The list of the fallen was too long: Lee Fletcher, Cleo Russo, Castor Brown, Mark Downs, Lisa Ramirez, Jeremey Fisher, Jillian Villanueva, Mary Grossman, and Harold Wright. The Ares and Apollo cabins both suffered three losses each, and Dionysus and Hermes both lost a son as well. The only goddess to lose a child was Aphrodite.

We were all so emotionally drained from the day's fighting that not even the siblings of those who died could say anything, so choked up that all they could do was cry and burn the shroud. This would be the first time in eight years that I ever saw shrouds actually contain bodies, and I'll be honest, I never want to see this again. As the torches lowered on the shrouds, smoke curled upwards and floated towards the stars in the sky.

My eyes immediately drifted to the star to the immediate right of the North Star. That had been Cleo's favorite star, because she'd always say, "'Second star to the right and straight on 'til morning.'" _Peter Pan_ had been Cleo's favorite Disney movie of all time, and she'd forced me to watch it enough times that I'm pretty sure I have most of the script memorized by now.

Even though I knew Cleo was in Elysium, I'd like to think that a part of her got to follow that second star to the right like she dreamed of doing when she was younger.

God, she was only fifteen, too young to die. Of the fallen, she was the third oldest, with Castor being the eldest at seventeen and Lee next, only being ten days older than Cleo. This was all so unfair, but I guess there is no such thing as fairness in war, especially one waged by a power-hungry Titan like Kronos.

* * *

That night was particularly hard for Percy and me, the both of us constantly waking up with a start, our minds still unable to process what we had witnessed the previous day. Even when I served Olympus as a messenger, I'd never been in battle like that before, only ever dealing with minor skirmishes that I could handle relatively quickly. Full scale battle like that was absolutely terrifying, especially when you can hear the screams of those dying and knowing that there's nothing you can do.

When I woke up the next morning, I skipped breakfast and headed straight for the infirmary, helping Will and Kayla with the wounded, which was practically everyone. I'd gotten hurt yesterday as well, but I'd been running on so much adrenaline that I didn't notice the large claw marks on my back that I'd received from a hellhound.

I dumped a bottle of water over my head, feeling my skin knit back together, before tugging on a pair of gloves and starting to set broken bones, treat cuts and stabs, and soothe burns, scratches, and the aftereffects of poison. At least it was something to do other than dwell on dark thoughts, I told myself, subconsciously going through the motions as I moved from demigod to demigod.

The infirmary was so full that I had to set up shop in the living room of the Big House to accommodate everyone. By lunchtime, I'd done so many sutures and casts that my hands were trembling from how still I'd forced them to be.

During lunch, I pushed my food around on my plate, not really feeling up to eat. I still felt sick to my stomach over yesterday, and the deaths of our friends still hung heavily in the air. The only reason I ate anything was the guilt I felt from seeing Tyson and Percy's worried looks, like they were unsure of how to approach the situation. They didn't need to worry about my well-being, not when there were a million other things that we needed to take care of first.

Then we were all summoned by Chiron and the Council of Cloven Elders to attend Grover's trial. I didn't want to go, claiming that I had to deal with the two traitors I'd brought back to camp, but Chiron shot me a stern look, and I knew there was no getting out of this one. Not to mention the chewing out I was going to get for entering the Labyrinth.

Unsurprisingly, the three pot-bellied satyrs that were the Council wanted to exile Grover for his "lies" about Pan's passing, but after some input from Chiron and Mr. D, who had finally shown up for the first time this summer, Grover's case was dissolved, meaning that he could stay at camp, even if the other satyrs refused to believe him.

As campers started heading back to their activities, I stayed behind, watching as Grover started splitting up satyrs on places to go to protect the remaining bits of wilderness that existed in the U.S. and Mr. D, whose eyes shone in the sunlight. He was still as ruddy-faced as ever and looked absolutely miserable, but his usual air of annoyance seemed to have been replaced with grief.

"Andromeda," Mr. D called as I was about to leave, gesturing for me to approach his vineyard throne.

"Yes, sir?"

"Follow me."

He stood up from his throne, levitating a few inches off the ground. I mean, I would levitate too what with how much those clothes must've cost. Not that money mattered to a god, but appearance definitely did.

I trailed behind Mr. D, the two of us alone in the forest as we began walking back towards camp.

"I imagine you know that the situation is dire," he said, stopping so suddenly that I almost ran into him. "Many of the minor gods have aligned with Kronos: Morpheus, Hecate, Nemesis, and Janus to name a few."

"What about Nike and Tyche?"

Mr. D scratched his chin. "As far as I know, they are still faithful to Olympus. I'd shudder to think of Victory and Luck siding with the enemy. Anyhow, that is not the reason I wish to speak to you."

"Do you require my services, sir?"

"Yes, in a way." Mr. D sighed deeply and ran a hand through his black hair, slicking it back as if it were coated in gel. "You know my son, Pollux?"

"I do."

"Good, because I want you to look out for him."

I bit my lip. "I don't think he'll appreciate that, Mr. D."

"I don't care," Mr. D snapped irritably. "Bad enough one of my sons is gone; I won't lose them both in one fell swoop. Watch out for Pollux, alright?"

"Yes, sir." I rubbed my bracelet, already thinking about how I was supposed to do this. Seventeen-year-olds typically dislike having older people hover over them, and I somehow doubted that Pollux would let me follow him around like a body guard.

"Gods, I hate this place," Mr. D muttered, rubbing his temples as if staving off a headache. "Ta-ta, Alejandra."

Mr. D walked off, leaving me by myself in the middle of the forest.

"Great, because I didn't have enough to worry about already." I sighed but took out my bag anyways, finding the little bag of charms I had in there. I'd give one to Pollux later, but right now, I just wanted to be alone.


	41. Chapter 41

Over the next few weeks, I unofficially became Olympus' messenger girl again, usually being used to solidify relations with whichever gods hadn't turned their backs on the gods yet. I hated playing ambassador but did it anyway after Zeus threatened to keep me on Olympus full time as one of the guardians.

"You already did enough damage revealing your chronokinesis to the campers," he had said, his fingers tapping the armrests of his throne like that was supposed to unnerve me or something. Clearly, he'd forgotten I'd been around his arrogant and pompous attitude for most of my adolescence, meaning I was no longer afraid of the Lord of the Skies.

"Not true," I'd countered, tapping my foot impatiently as I waited to leave. I'd made plans with Pete, Joe, and Leah earlier to keep up appearances, and this meeting was making me late. "No one saw me use my powers."

"Then explain how I know about this!"

I rolled my eyes. "You had Apollo put time-sensitive sensors in my body, remember? You said it was for precautionary purposes after the last time I manipulated time."

"Yes, well, you should've let that boy die."

"That was my son she saved," Hephaestus grumbled, shooting his father a scathing glare. "And it wasn't his fate to die from a car crash that night."

"And how would _you_ know that?" Zeus accused, squinting his eyes at the blacksmith. "You haven't been spending time with the Fates, have you?"

"Like anyone actually wants to spend time with those creepy hags," Apollo said, shuddering at the mere thought of the Fates.

"Says the god of prophecy," Artemis scoffed.

"Hey, that was cold, sis."

"Don't call me that!"

"Anyways," I said, interrupting the gods before this could turn out into a typical council fight, "who do you need me to check on? I have other things to do, you know."

Hermes threw a small notebook at me. I caught it and read the cover, where someone had written the words "List of Potential Allies/Enemies" in fancy script. I began flipping through the pages, fighting back an annoyed groan when I saw the list of people that I still had to talk to.

"Is that all?" I asked, already thinking of how and when I was going to visit two-hundred some minor gods and goddesses that were scattered all over the world.

"Yes, you may go," Athena said, never looking up from the book she was reading, completely blocking out the fights that had broken out around her.

And that was how I spent my next few weeks, reaching every corner of the globe. With how often I was away from Camp-Half Blood, people were starting to get concerned about me, namely Chiron, Luke, Percy, Annabeth, and Will. Grover would've been freaking about my coming and going, too, but he was so busy doing Lord of the Wild stuff that I doubted he was paying me any attention.

Take the Fourth of July, for example.

I'd recently come back from a mission in Brazil after talking with tons of river gods – you'd be surprised how many rivers are in South America – and all I wanted to do was get some much needed sleep. Because alongside river gods came river monsters, nasty little snakes that didn't have eyes, conducted electricity, and could spew venom up to ten feet away. Needless to say, I hadn't been aware of these slimy snakes, and as a result, my left thigh was heavily bandaged after suffering some burns from the venom.

Of course, that wasn't how it worked out.

I came back to camp on Star, meaning that instead of appearing in cabin three like I usually did, I had to walk from the pegasi stables through the camp to reach my bunk. On my way back, both Will and Luke stopped me with large bear hugs, sending a flare of pain racing through my leg when Will accidently pushed against the bandages there.

Nectar, ambrosia, and water could only do so much against the venom, and according to Apollo, the pain wouldn't disappear for another four or five days.

However, the two boys were completely oblivious of my injury, forcing to sit at one of the many picnic tables in the commons area. Luke sat opposite me while Will sat to my immediate right, very content with resting his head on my shoulder.

"Welcome back," Luke deadpanned, his lips pressed in a firm line as his eyes scanned me up and down. "How long were you gone this time? Five, six days? A week?"

"Four days," I replied, subconsciously rubbing at the bandages under my jeans as I felt Will already starting to medically examine me.

"Where'd you go?"

"Brazil."

"Why?"

I smiled wryly. "You know I can't answer that, Luke."

"Come on, Andy," Will drawled, poking my arm repeatedly. "We won't say anything!"

"Already swore on the River Styx not to say."

"Dammit," Luke muttered before dropping his seriousness, a genuine smile coming to his face. "Well, it was worth a shot. Glad to see that you're still in one piece."

"Ditto that," I replied, forcing myself to move my hands onto the table before Will could notice the injury on my leg.

"So now that that's over and done with," Will began, "do you have a date for the Fourth of July?"

I groaned and put my head in my hands. I swear, these two were just as, if not more, annoying than Pete and Joe in terms of getting involved in my love life. Why was everyone so desperate to see me dating someone? I don't need or want a boyfriend at the moment, and it's not like I'd have time to pay him any attention with my tightly packed schedule. Hades, I barely had time to pay attention to myself, accidentally forgoing food and sleep multiple times because I was so focused on my mission.

And to make matters worse, the firework show on the Fourth of July was basically the equivalence of a school's prom or homecoming in terms of how important having a date was. Plus, campers would go out of their way to ask their significant other or crush to the fireworks.

Last year Travis Stoll asked Katie Gardener by setting the Demeter cabin on fire, emblazing a large four with a question mark onto the grass roof. This year, Beckendorf asked Silena after nearly dying from the Myrmekes, and Clarisse had asked Chris by sticking a post-it note onto his armor after having him pinned underneath her during a spar. Annabeth had also asked Percy to the fireworks the same day that Beckendorf asked Silena, which had left Percy firetruck red, according to the son of Hephaestus.

"No, Will," I answered, lowering my hands. "I do not have, nor do I want, a date for the fireworks show in three days."

Oh, if it was July first, then it was Jason Grace's birthday. Happy fourteenth, I guess. I'd have to stop by when I have the chance.

"I'm calling BS on that," Luke said. "You've been here for…" – he began counting the clay beads around my neck – "eight years and never had a date to the fireworks? Don't you want to know what the big deal's all about?"

"Nah, I'm good."

"Seriously, you should just join the Hunters at this rate," Will joked.

However, it didn't take long before that good-nature joking was quickly replaced with guilt as Luke visibly winced, his eyes fixated on a point on the ground. Right, Thalia had used to be his date to the Fourth of July show, but that ended last year when she joined the Hunters of Artemis.

"Oh, geez, I'm sorry," Will apologized, his face beet red. "I wasn't thinking and-"

"It's fine, really," Luke said, trying for a smile which in reality was a grimace. "Plus, I had someone else in mind."

"Same!" Will gushed. "I don't know if he'll be here, but if he is-"

"Wait a minute. He?"

Will froze like a deer in headlights. "I've got to go," he said in a rushed breath, standing up so abruptly that his knees banged against the underside of the table and fell over the bench before taking off for his cabin.

"I wasn't trying to make fun of him," Luke said in a low voice, watching as Will slammed the door to cabin seven behind him. "Just curious."

"I don't think he intended to come out this way," I said reassuringly. "He's probably terrified that we're going to expose him to the rest of camp and stop being his friends."

"But that's crazy! Why would someone's sexuality determine a friendship status?"

"You'd be surprised about how often that happens in the mortal world." I stood up, biting back a wince from the weight on my bad leg. "I'm going to go talk to him."

Luke stood up as well. "I'm coming with you. He needs to know that I won't think differently of him."

Despite my own qualms, I bit my lip and gave a nod. "Fine, but if he asks either one of us to leave, we'll respect his wishes."

"Sounds good to me."

* * *

Will had been determined to keep us out of the Apollo cabin. All the doors leading inside were locked, and he'd somehow blockaded the windows with trunks and beds. Plus, it's not like I could shadow-travel inside seeing that there was light shining from underneath the door and around the windows like someone had shoved the sun inside of the cabin. Perhaps I could mist-travel, but the only entrance was underneath the crack of the doors, which was a tighter squeeze than I was comfortable with doing. Trust me, it sounds like a good idea in theory, but I assure you, not so much in practice.

But Luke beat me to the punch, walking right up to the front door and shutting his hand around the knob before shutting his eyes in concentration. Sweat broke out across his face as the faint sound of gears turning filled the air. Then he turned the door knob, causing for the door to swing open.

"Haven't done that in years," he said, wiping some sweat away with the back of his hand.

"Go away!" Will shouted, chucking pillows in our direction. I managed to duck the pillows, but Luke wasn't so lucky, one catching him in the face and exploding into a mess of feathers for someone to clean up later. "Leave me alone!"

I noticed that no one else was in the cabin, leaving Will free to do whatever he wanted without anyone watching. His bunk was a fortress of pillows, only his blond hair peeking out giving us a clue about his whereabouts on his bed.

Even from the door of the cabin, which was opposite from where Will's bunk was, I could see the pillows shaking and the sounds of his sniffling filling the air. Gods, I wanted to knock the daylights out of whoever made Will so afraid of being himself.

"Will, we're not leaving," I said softly, slowly placing pillows onto the ground until I could find the young son of Apollo. For Christ's sake he was only twelve. There should be no reason for a twelve-year-old to have this much self-hatred.

"You can't get rid of us so easily, kid," Luke said, plopping himself next to Will and slinging an arm over the younger boy's shoulders.

Will visibly flinched, shrinking in on himself as he clutched a pillow to his chest, his eyes screwed shut as his exhaled shakily. His face was still damp from his tears, red streaks running down the length of his cheeks.

"You must think I'm a freak, unnatural," Will said, his voice muffled by the pillow. "The son of an infamous womanizer liking guys, crazy, right?"

"What about Hyacinthus?" I asked, placing what I hoped to be a placating hand on Will's shoulder. "He's one of the most famous male lovers in all history, and it just so happens to be that your father, Apollo, was the one who loved him. Will, your father is about as straight as a circle."

Will looked up, staring at me weirdly. "But circles don't have any straight lines?"

"That's the point," Luke clarified. "And Apollo isn't the only one. Many of the gods don't care about the gender of their lovers as long as they're pretty or interesting."

"Yeah, for example, Cleo had two dads, Apollo and her mortal father." I bit my lip at the thought of my best friend but continued anyways. "Liking guys isn't anything to be ashamed of, Will, and don't let anyone tell you otherwise."

"Do you really mean that?" Will asked, finally opening his eyes for the first time. They were still glistening with unshed tears, but something told me these were tears of relief, not sadness.

"Of course we do."

Luke pushed the rest of the pillows onto the ground to wrap his arms around Will in a protective older brother kind of way. I joined in on the hug, feeling Will relax in the embrace, no longer afraid of us.

"So, who do you want to ask?" Luke said, reminding us of the topic we'd been discussing earlier.

"Nuh-uh," Will replied, shaking his head. "You first mister I-have-someone-else-in-mind."

Luke rolled his eyes and sighed dramatically, earning himself another pillow to the face courtesy of Will Solace. I laughed, which caused Will to throw a pillow at me as well, making him laugh hysterically as I spit feathers out of my mouth.

Who thought it was a good idea to shove so many feathers into pillows?

"Fine, if you _must_ know," Luke began, picking up a discarded pillow and hugging it to his chest, "I'm thinking about asking Thalia to the fireworks."

"But she's a Hunter," Will said, confusion clear in his voice. "Didn't she swear off men with that oath?"

"She did," I answered, raising my eyebrows at Luke. "Plus, Artemis told me that the Hunters are busy trying to take down monster strongholds before they strengthen too much. Even if she said yes, Thalia wouldn't be allowed to leave for the fireworks for multiple reasons."

"I know, but a guy can dream." He sighed. "I mean, her departure was so abrupt. How can she be telling me 'I love you' one day and join the Hunters a little less than a week later? What did I do wrong?"

"You did nothing wrong, Luke," I assured him.

"Maybe she did it to escape the prophecy," Will suggested. "Maybe she doesn't want to be an eternal maiden and only did it to let the prophecy pass onto Percy. I know I would've done the same thing in her place."

"What about you, mister I-have-a-crush-on-a-boy?" Luke said, taking a page from Will's book on teasing.

Will turned a bright red and threw another pillow at Luke. This time, the son of Hermes managed to duck the feather filled projectile.

"Well, umm, gods this is mortifying," Will said, burying his face into a pillow again, his blush spreading from the tips of his ears down to his Adam's apple. "You guys are like my parents, and now I'm supposed to tell you who I have a crush on?"

"Yup," I said, popping the 'p' sound. "Now spill."

He groaned again but finally squeaked out, "Nico di Angelo."

"YES!" I shouted, pumping my fist in joy, biting back a curse when my knuckles slammed against the wood of the upper bunk. But screw the pain when Solangelo would be canon in this timeline as well. "My bad, please continue."

The two boys seemed genuinely concerned about me, but I waved them off, causing them to blink twice before resuming our conversation.

"So, yeah, I want to ask Nico to the fireworks next time I see him. But last I heard, he left camp again, so I don't think I'll have the chance."

"I could try to contact him, if you want," I offered, which only made Will shake his head so quickly I thought he was going to give himself whiplash.

"Please don't do that, Andy. I'd die of embarrassment to have someone play matchmaker for me."

"Stay away from the Aphrodite cabin, then," Luke added. I bit back a snicker.

Seriously, those love children didn't know when to butt out when it was good for them. It's like they fed off gossip or something. (Let me add that this is just a generalization. I'm well aware that not all Aphrodite children are like this, but come on, most of them are.)

"What about you, Andy?" Will asked. "I know you don't want to ask anyone, but if someone _did_ ask, who would you want it to be?"

"Ooh, that's a way to get an answer. Good job, kid." Luke patted Will on the back.

I sighed and shook my head. "I don't know. I don't stay around camp long enough to really have romantic feelings for anyone."

Luke groaned loudly like he was in pain before chucking a pillow at me. "Again, you've been here for almost a decade now, Andy. You know the people here better than most of us. Now, who would you want to be asked by?"

"I don't know," I repeated with a shrug. "James, maybe? I mean, he's the only person here around my age. But we're only acquaintances, not even that close of friends. Plus, I think he has a girlfriend in the Demeter cabin."

"Uh, you're wrong about the age thing," Will said. "There's another twenty-two-year-old at camp that isn't James or you."

"Really? Who would that be?"

"Luke!"

"What?!" the both of exclaimed, glancing at each other for a brief moment before returning our gaze to Will.

I felt like my face was on fire; Luke wasn't any better off. Not that I had feelings for Luke or anything, but I'd viewed him as a brother for so long that it was kind of weird to think of him asking me to the fireworks.

"Technically Luke's twenty-two," Will pointed out.

"Erm, I'm nineteen."

Will rolled his eyes at us like we were ignorant children. He stood up from his bunk and started fishing through his nightstand, victoriously returning with a notepad and pencil before plopping back into his spot.

"You were fourteen when you were put in that tree, right?" Will asked Luke, jotting down the number fourteen in the middle of his page. Luke nodded. "Okay, well if I do some simple math," – he wrote the number 2000 above the fourteen and worked out the subtraction – "I get 1986. And you've filled out the sheets in the infirmary enough times that I know your birthday is February 16th, 1986. So, according to these calculations, you're twenty-two."

Luke glanced downward, biting his lip until a thin stream of blood started flowing from the side of his mouth. Before Will could do anything, I handed Luke a little bit of gauze and forced his hand to hold it there.

"It happened with Thalia, too," I reminded them. "If you both aged normally within that tree, she'd be twenty at the moment. She would've aged past the Great Prophecy, which my father would never let happen. He'd never pass up the chance to turn a child of the Big Three."

"You're a child of Kro-?!" Will began until I clapped a hand over his mouth, cutting off the rest of the word.

"Don't say his name, especially not now. But yeah, I am." I scrunched my eyebrows together in confusion. "Haven't I told you guys this already?"

"Uh, no," Luke said in shock, pulling the bloodied gauze away from his mouth. "Why are we just now learning about this?"

I shrugged. "Gods forbade me from telling. Might as well tell the truth from now before he calls me out in front of everyone else. I don't need anyone calling me a traitor in the middle of battle."

"No one would do that."

I stood up, wincing as my leg throbbed with pain. Jesus, I was going to need to be in a soaker tub for the next couple of days if this kept up.

"You'd be surprised at the amount of people who distrust me," I replied, twirling my bracelet around my wrist. "Ever since I came to camp, people have been afraid of me, of my powers. What are they going to say when I say that I'm the daughter of the Titan King after saying that I've yet to be claimed? All that'll do is get me killed."

Just then, my phone began vibrating in my back pocket. I stifled the urge to throw the piece of technology at the wall and pulled it out, huffing silently as I accepted the call and raised the phone to me ear.

"Hello?" I asked, ignoring the look of shock Will was giving me for using something we'd all been told was forbidden for our safety. It seems that many of my secrets are being revealed to the son of Apollo for the first time.

"Hi, Andy," a voice which I hadn't heard in years spoke. "This is Andromeda Collins' phone, correct?"

I felt myself paling and turned away from the two boys. Gods, this day just couldn't get worse, could it?

"This is she." I swallowed the lump of fear that had built in my throat. "It's been a while, Jason. Oh, by the way, happy birthday!"

"Heh, thanks, and yeah, it really has been a while," he said, chuckling softly. "Almost five years, I think? However long it may have been, it's a good thing I got in contact with you."

"What's wrong?" I asked, my heart already sinking in my chest.

"Well…we may or not be under attack at the moment."

 _"_ _What?"_

Jason winced. "You said only to call in emergency situations, and Reyna said not to, but-"

"It's fine, Jason," I sighed, pinching the bridge of my nose. "Give me something to work with, though."

"Well, there are a ton of hellhounds and giant men flooding in from the Caldecott Tunnel. There are also these snake women and vampire ladies, but I don't know what they're called."

"Those are _dracaenae_ and _empousai._ But just how many are we dealing with?"

I glanced behind me, seeing the matching looks of worry on Will and Luke's faces. Luke was already standing up, his hand tightly wrapped around the hilt of his sword, clearly waiting for me to fill him in on what was going on. Will was on edge as well, his bow already having appeared slung over his shoulders, his fingers already nervously plucking at the string.

"There's at least fifty, but with how many are coming in from the outside, it's impossible to tell." His voice was cut off as he shouted a command in Latin before grunting, as if something had just plowed right into his chest.

"Jason, are you seriously in the middle of a fight right now and talking to me at the same time?"

"…Maybe."

"Gods, you have a death wish. I'll be there soon."

"Please hurry," he said, and with that, the line went dead.

I swore under my breath and shoved my phone deep into my bag before transforming it back into a charm. All I wanted was a break before getting sent gods-knows where else. Was that too much to ask for?

"What _was_ that?" Luke demanded, his hand frozen around the hilt of his sword. "Who's Jason?"

"A friend," I answered, moving towards the door. "Look, I promise I'll explain later, but I need to go."

"But you just got here!" Will exclaimed. "What could be so urgent that you need to go right now?"

"My friends may die in the next few minutes if I don't show up," I said, feeling my frustration grow. I loved my friends, but after being gone so long, they were especially clingy at the moment. That was something I couldn't afford for the time being, not when I was constantly being used as an ambassador/warrior.

"Then let us help." Luke stepped towards the door, his body tense as if he were waiting for someone to shoot a gun for him to take off running. "It sounds like your friends need it."

"You can't, sorry."

Luke raised his eyebrows at me. "And why not?"

"Classified."

"Is everything classified with you now?" Luke shouted, throwing his hands up into the air. "What happened to the girl who told me everything?"

"Things are different now," I said, tapping my foot impatiently. "I'm no longer just a camper here, Luke. I swore my fidelity to Olympus eight years ago, and now I'm paying the price for that oath."

"But that's not fair to you!" Will blurted out. "You deserve to live your life as you wish, just like the rest of us!"

I gave the son of Apollo a sad smile. "My fate is to serve the gods, I'm afraid. And there's nothing anyone can do about it."

I took a step towards the shadows.

"Andy, wait-" Luke began, lunging forward to grab me.

But it was too late.

I vanished into the darkness, the wind howling in my ears as the shadows transported me to my destination.

With one last shove, I leapt from the shadows, landing on the marble floor of the Via Principalis.

I had arrived at Camp Jupiter.

* * *

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	42. Chapter 42

When I landed, there wasn't a soul in sight. Well, let me rephrase that. There wasn't a _living_ soul in sight, because there were still a few Lares milling around, concern evident on their ghoulish faces as they all faced eastward.

I tapped the heart charm on my bracelet, my armor appearing on my body with a flash of gold. That had been a gift from Salina, whom I hadn't seen since December, after she had found out about what I was doing for the gods again.

"No daughter of mine will be forced to fight without armor," she'd huffed before adding the charm to my wrist herself. I'd tried to argue against it, saying I could just shove my armor into my bag, but one look from the goddess was enough to shut me up and quietly accept the gift.

You wouldn't think the goddess of wishes would be that frightening, but she so rarely got angry, meaning that when she did show signs of irritation or anger, it was quite terrifying. That'd be as if Hestia started screaming at someone for dropping a cup – unheard of and completely frightening.

Still, it was a handy little gift, especially with how often I was finding myself outnumbered in the missions I was being sent on.

"Where is everyone?" I asked myself, turning a corner so sharply that I almost knocked over a statue of Ceres.

I received my answer in a form of a flash-bang grenade. Off to my right, I heard someone shout, "Take cover!" before an explosion of blinding light filled the sky, brighter than as if someone had chosen to stare at the sun. Then followed the actual explosion, the sound loud enough to cause me to wince even though I was far away from the grenade. If that was true, I didn't want to think about the eardrums of those in close proximity.

Despite my wounded leg, I took off running in the direction of the fighting, deciding that the best thing I could do right now was to fight through any discomfort.

By the time I was on the field, Epithymia was already unsheathed, managing to slash through two _empousai_ that I'd caught off guard. But while that may have been a substantial number of _empousai_ during the Battle of the Labyrinth, that was nothing compared to the mess that was covering the Field of Mars.

Hannibal, the war elephant, was stampeding on the opposite side of the field, his rider guiding the elephant to trample as many enemies as possible. But the thirty-some hellhounds were making it nearly impossible for Hannibal to move, cutting off the elephant from the rest of the legion while trying to eat his rider.

Overhead, Reyna was riding Scipio, shouting directions at the legion. Meanwhile, I had no clue where Jason was in this mess, only knowing that he'd been alive when we'd last talked about three minutes ago.

I really didn't have time to look for him, though, parrying a blow from a _dracaena_ before stabbing her in the chest and pushing myself farther into the fray.

It wasn't even five minutes before exhaustion started creeping in, my muscles feeling like I'd been pumped full of lead. It wasn't that I was out of practice or anything, but I dare you to fight like your life depends on it when an injury was already sapping your strength, not to mention the four-thousand mile jump from New York to California.

From underneath one of my vambraces, I pulled out a small square of ambrosia, bit off the corner, and shoved it back in place, the heaviness fading a little bit from my arms. I adjusted the grip on Epithymia once more before returning to my slash, parry, stab, and kill technique, slowly taking out the monsters one by one. Even so, this was taking forever, and the legion seemed on the verge of collapse.

"Fourth and fifth cohorts, _cincinno conspergitur scuta!"_ Reyna shouted, swooping down towards the monsters, managing to sever the heads of at least a dozen Laistrygonians before returning up into the sky. "Third cohort, _iactare tela modo!"_

The legionnaires from the fourth and fifth cohorts pushed the monsters aside and began locking shields together, creating a phalanx type formation, preventing from the enemy to push forward. Behind the wall of shields, the third cohort began launching their spears, each one finding a target to turn into dust.

But just when that started to work, the earth shuddered, and two large onagers were wheeled onto the Field of Mars. Each onager had a boulder the size of a pickup truck; vials of Greek fire were taped onto the entire rock. And those lovely little packages were faced directly at Camp Jupiter.

"Watch out!" someone shouted as more flash-bang grenades started to rain down from the sky.

"I've got them!" I heard Jason shout, watching as he shot up into the sky and shoved the grenades aside with gusts of wind.

"The onagers are going to fire!"

"Not if I can help it," I muttered, kicking a Laistrygonian into his friend's sword before catching a ride on a nearby hellhound, jumping off when I reached the glorified catapults. As a parting gift for its help, I shoved Epithymia deep into the hellhound's neck, blocking out the snarls and whimpering until I severed its spinal cord.

I had to remind myself repeatedly that that hadn't been Mrs. O'Leary I'd just paralyzed before rushing towards the onagers.

Apparently the _dracaenae_ that had been in charge of the onagers had sensed me and cut the strings, sending the payload soaring into the air. Those who noticed what had just happened gasped, shouting for the gods to send help.

Gritting my teeth, I shoved the rest of my ambrosia into my mouth before throwing my arms up into the air, imagining the rocks freezing in midair. Slowly but surely, the Greek-fire covered rocks stopped, seeming as if they were merely levitating above the legion.

This only caused more panic amongst the legionnaires but also spread confusion throughout the enemy ranks. Many of the monsters ceased their fighting to stop and stare at the rocks, giving Jason the opportunity he needed to summon a massive lightning bolt that only electrocuted monsters.

I saw someone lunge for Jason as his blond hair disappeared from my line of sight, most likely passing out from such expenditure of his powers.

"Reyna!" I shouted, hoping that she'd hear me. "Dispose of the Greek fire! I'll handle the rocks!"

Maybe it was Reyna that heard me, or maybe it was Scipio, but whoever it was, the duo approached the frozen rocks and quickly began pulling off the vials of Greek fire from the stone, gently depositing them into a satchel hanging from Scipio's side.

"That's all of them!" she responded, letting me breathe a minor sigh of relief.

The manic burst of strength the ambrosia had given me was already fading, and I knew it wouldn't be long until I met Jason's fate as well.

"Clear the area!" I shouted, gesturing towards the onagers. Demigods and legacies fled left and right, but the monsters, too slow to heed my warning, were crushed underneath the weight of their own projectiles as I brought the boulders back and dropped them right on top of a dozen _empousai_ and a handful of hellhounds.

Once I dropped the time spell, I dropped onto a knee, completely spent. Darkness crept from the corners of my vision, but I couldn't pass out, not yet.

I struggled onto my feet and let out a feral scream, slashing through any enemy that tried to get in my way as I tried to find Jason. He'd been the one to call me here, yet I doubted that he was aware of my arrival. It was only fair that I kept him safe while he was out.

Overhead, Reyna continued shouting orders at the legion, telling them to band together in one final effort. Seeing that the onagers were located in front of the Caldecott Tunnel and completely covered in ginormous boulders, the rest of the monsters had no method of escape unless they ran towards New Rome, which was protected by its own border god, Terminus.

"Sssslay them all!" a _dracaena_ hissed, holding her sword high in defiance. She shoved one of her comrades aside, revealing Jason on the ground in front of her, blood seeping from a head injury, turning patches of his blond hair into a messy orange. "And we ssshall ssstart with the son of Jupiter! Hail Saturn!"

Before she could lower her sword, three arrows were embedded into her body – one in the heart, one in the throat, and the last in her forehead. She exploded into gold dust, causing for some of the few remaining _dracaenae_ to bristle angrily, each one of them brandishing their own weapons in an attempt to avenge their fallen sister.

Within seconds, I notched a few more arrows onto my bow, hitting the chinks in their armor, hearing them groan in pain before vanishing into gold dust on the ground. There was one that I had to take down with Epithymia after she got too close, but one swipe across the tail was enough to have her cursing me as I shoved her aside, allowing her to crumble into dust as I ran over to Jason.

It wasn't too long after I'd picked Jason up in a fireman's carry that I heard the legionnaires exclaim in jubilation, the last monster having finally been killed. Surprise, surprise, it had been Reyna that finished the battle, using her quick thinking to get two Laistrygonians to kill each other over who had the right to finish her off.

Luckily for me, Camp Jupiter had its infirmary as close to the Field of Mars as physically possible, usually becoming the go-to place after large evening activities like war games or the water balloon battle. I know that sounds harmless, but trust me, this isn't your typical friendly water balloon fight. I've seen people end up with broken noses or unconscious from how crazy it was.

Anyhow, after a legacy of Apollo quickly checked us in (read: paled and shoved us into the nearest bed), I got to work, only pausing for a few milliseconds to turn my armor back into its heart charm.

From what I could tell, Jason was perfectly fine other than a few scratches here and there and the cut he had on his forehead from falling out of the sky. I know this is mean of me to think, but it'd be funnier if he'd been hit with a brick.

What, don't tell me you've never heard of Brason before? One of the best things Rick Riordan ever wrote, in my opinion.

Right, back to Jason's injuries. Well, his scrapes were minor enough that they could heal on their own, and the cut on his head only needed a bandage. By some miracle, he avoided a nasty concussion or brain bleed, showing that the Fates were on Jason's side today.

Good thing, too. After all, it was still his birthday.

I trickled some unicorn draught into his mouth before moving him into a wheelchair, strapping him in to prevent him from face planting on the pavement again. I'd told the healers I'd take Jason back to his praetor's villa to free up the beds for those who seriously needed medical attention, earning me threats and scowls from the various descendants of Apollo.

Instead of getting into a fight with them, I rolled up my shirt's sleeve, revealing my own tattoo on my arm. There were five lines marked under a large omega, the symbol of the gods. Before anyone asks, this was Hecate's doing from a long time ago, and she'd enchanted the ink to only appear on my skin when I was inside Camp Jupiter. If I was anywhere else, it wouldn't show.

"Oh, gods," some of them would mutter, dropping to their knees and begging for forgiveness. Others would pale and run off to do something in the other direction, hoping to distance themselves.

"It's fine," I'd told them, telling them to stand. "No need to treat me like a god. I'm just a demigod, like you."

"Uh, I'm a legacy."

I frowned. "You know what I meant."

After that little incident, I took Jason back to his villa and tucked him into his bed, making sure to set aside a glass of water and some Tylenol on his nightstand for when he woke up. He may not have suffered a concussion, but I doubt he'll wake up without a massive headache.

Before I left Jason's house, I fished out the gift I'd gotten him ages ago and set it on his dining room table. I'd been meaning to give it to him for a while now, but I hadn't returned to Camp Jupiter ever since Jason was nine, when Zeus told me to give his son the gold coin known as IVILIS. It was like Riptide in the sense that it always returned to its owner and was easily concealed, but unlike the pen-sword, the coin could also transform into a _gladius_ depending on which side of the coin landed face up when flipped.

I'd gotten him two little presents, but we'd written enough letters to each other to know each other's likes and dislikes pretty well. As a joke, I got him a Superman shirt and had his last name stamped onto the back, like you'd seen on a sport's jersey. For his actual gift, I got him a Polaroid camera and various containers of film as well as tucking in some pictures Hestia had found in her hearth.

Apparently sometime after Beryl Grace's death, the house that Zeus had given her had mysteriously burned down (most likely Hera's doing) and with it, all the pictures in there had been burned as well. With Hestia's help, I was able to find a picture of Beryl smiling while Thalia held her brother in her arms.

I'd asked about Thalia in the picture and whether or not we should find another one, but Hestia waved my worry aside, assuring me that this wouldn't jeopardize anything. Later that night, the Fates had given me the same assurance, so I wasn't all too concerned about having Thalia in a picture as a part of his birthday present. I mean, he'll find out the truth within the next year and a half, anyways.

Once I left Jason's villa, I plopped myself down into a nearby bench, groaning as I finally felt all my exhaustion seep into my bones, my leg throbbing painfully with every beat of my heart. Honestly, I would go back to Brazil and kill every one of those river monsters if it meant no one else having to suffer from their agonizing bite if I could.

"You look like you're having a great time," I heard Reyna comment before seating herself beside me, calmly sipping her hot chocolate despite the fact that it was easily ninety-five degrees. And somehow she didn't seem uncomfortable under the weight of her armor or flowing purple cape, but I guess that was to be expected with Reyna. She, like Clarisse, probably slept in her battle armor.

"Yes, because exhaustion is such a good look on me," I snorted, rubbing tiredly at my eyes as the rest of my body slowly turned to lead. "I haven't gotten much sleep lately, if you couldn't tell."

"Then I'd have to be blind. You look like you're going to pass out right here." Reyna stood up and offered me her hand. "Come with me. I'll give you a safe place to sleep and we can talk about why you're here later."

"Oh, that really isn't necessary, Reyna." I stood up quickly, biting back a string of curses when my injured leg almost collapsed underneath my weight.

Reyna quickly slung my arm over her shoulder, staring down at my leg like it personally offended her.

"Nonsense," she said, beginning to slowly walk towards her own villa. "After everything you did for Camp Jupiter today, you deserve to rest. I insist you stay. Plus, I can send a medic to check out that leg of yours. Seriously, you call us suicidal yet you fight when injured." She shook her head. "Unbelievable, Andy. And to think you lecture us on self-preservation."

"That's because you're kids," I said. "You deserve to have a chance at a normal life without being in constant fear of dying. For gods' sake, Reyna, you're only fifteen and you're expected to run a camp containing over two hundred other teenagers. This isn't normal."

Reyna's face hardened. "You're not that ancient yourself, Andy. How old are you?"

"Twenty-two."

She nodded briskly. "My case in point. And if my information is accurate, you swore your service to the gods at age fourteen, a year younger than myself. Tell me again about this normal life you speak of."

I rolled my eyes but stayed silent. Reyna had a point, but I couldn't tell her the truth about my actions, about why I was really here. Sure, I didn't want to die, but I'd rather sacrifice myself than watch anyone I care about be hurt. I would be more than willing to take on everyone's pain if it meant they got a stereotypical Happily Ever After.

Reyna pulled out the key to her home from underneath a house plant and unlocked the door, guiding me through it before pulling it shut behind us. She told me to sit on the large plush couch she had right under a large window, a perfect place for reading, while she went to get some supplies.

A few minutes later, the daughter of Bellona returned with some cloth bandages and a little basin full of what appeared to be soap water.

"Let me see your leg," she ordered, unclasping the brooch on her cape before tossing it aside, letting it land on a nearby chair. However, she refused to remove her armor.

First I pulled out some spandex from my bag, so once I got out of my pants, I tugged on my spandex, revealing the large wound on my thigh while also wearing bottoms that weren't just my underwear.

"What do you think about this shade of green on me?" I joked, cringing slightly of the feeling of Reyna unwrapping my bandages. At least there wasn't any pus, eliminating the chance of this being foul smelling.

"It'd be nicer on your clothing," Reyna retorted, quickly disposing of the old bandages before soaking a cloth bandage into the basin until it was thoroughly soaked. She then wrapped it tightly around the injured area, making me dig my nails into my palms to prevent from making any noise.

"I've never seen any poison like this before," she said, soaking a second bandage. "How'd you get hurt?"

"Mission in Brazil. Word of advice, stay away from South American rivers unless you are a hundred percent certain that there are no river monsters in the vicinity. Trust me, you'll know by how the locals treat the water."

"Duly noted." This time I winced as Reyna tied this bandage tighter than the previous one. "Sorry about the discomfort, but I promise this will help. Hylla was taught to make a healing salve under Circe, and in turn, she taught me. This is good for pain relief when ambrosia, nectar, unicorn draught, or modern medicine fails."

Sure enough, as the bandages dried, I felt a cooling sensation in my leg, effectively numbing the pain. The skin there tingled with the pins and needles effect, but that was much better than the alternative, in my opinion, so I kept my mouth shut and thanked Reyna after she tied off the last bandage.

"I'll give you the instructions to make the salve before you go," Reyna promised. "But for now, get some rest. I need to go check on the others, but I'll be back before dinner time."

"Sounds good to me," I said, smiling softly as I watched Reyna redid the clasp on her cape. "We'll talk later, I promise."

"Good. I look forward to it." And with that, the daughter of Bellona departed, the lock turning a few moments after she'd walked outside.

It didn't take too long until my eyes grew heavy with exhaustion, and eventually, I fell asleep.

* * *

"You know," I heard someone say, my body jerking itself awake at the unexpected noise, "if it weren't for the fact that I told you to sleep, I would've thought you were dead."

"Gee, thanks," I said, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes and yawning.

I blinked twice before finally being able to recognize Reyna sitting in the seat across from me, calmly undoing her cape and finally removing her armor, revealing a purple Camp Jupiter shirt and jeans. For once, she looked like a normal teenage girl instead of a praetor.

Reyna pulled out a Tupperware container from the folds of her cape and set it down on the little coffee table. There was a ham and cheese sandwich along with some apple slices and a brownie.

"You slept right through dinner, so I brought you food from the dining hall."

"Thank you, but weren't you supposed to be back before then?" I asked, slowly sitting up as to not agitate my leg. It felt a million times better after Reyna applied her salve, but I wasn't going to take any chances.

"I stopped by to check on you," she said with a shrug. "Oh, that reminds me. Here's how to make that salve." Reyna pulled out a folded sheet of paper from her pocket and set it next to the Tupperware. "Anyways, you were sleeping so peacefully that I didn't want to wake you up. When was the last time you got some proper rest?"

Having already taken a bite of the sandwich, I thought as I chewed. Now I know this is totally off topic, but this was a really good ham and cheese sandwich. Gods bless those wind spirits.

"Um, a month maybe?" I rubbed the back of my neck sheepishly. "I really don't know."

Reyna rolled her eyes, clearly having expected an answer like that. "I know you work for the gods, but you need to take better care of yourself. Being sleep deprived is just as dangerous as not knowing how to fight for a demigod."

"That's why coffee is my best friend. I know, not a substitute for sleep, but it definitely helps."

"At least it's not alcohol," Reyna spoke bitterly, unable to meet my eyes as she was suddenly transported back into a flood of bad memories. In fact, her memories were so awful that I could feel the aura she was giving off (thanks a lot, Hera), but I knew better than to go poking around in other people's minds (unlike certain gods).

"Would you believe me if I told you I've never drank before?" I asked, taking another large bite out of my sandwich.

"Seriously?" Reyna raised her eyebrows. "Don't you go to parties at college, though?"

"Only if my friends drag me along. Even then, I'm the designated driver, so I don't drink. And I bring my own water or lemonade or whatever I want to avoid accidentally drinking anything that was spiked."

She nodded appreciatively. "Yes, I can see you doing that. Anyhow, why are you here, Andy? How did you know about today's attack?"

"Oh, Jason called me," I said, finishing off my sandwich. I pushed aside the apples and brownie, not really all that hungry. "He asked for help, so I came."

"So the gods didn't send you?"

"Nope."

Reyna stood up and began to pace back and forth. "That's not a good thing. Jason shouldn't have called you without my knowledge."

I winced, my mind reminding me of every punishment that could be inflicted on a praetor that didn't inform their fellow praetor about their actions. Let's just say that none of them ended well for the transgressor.

"What will the Senate do to him?"

"Well, they are unaware of his actions as of now, which is good for him. But with someone like Octavian as augur, I'm afraid he may be able to convince the Senate to put Jason to death."

"I'm going to drop kick him across the Pacific Ocean," I growled, starting to stand up before Reyna glared at me, as if daring to get up from the couch.

She sighed, brushing a stray hair behind her ear. "Trust me, I'd love to hurl Octavian off the nearest mountain, but he's too powerful to kill off like that. Plus, I don't kill unless absolutely necessary."

"Then what can we do about Jason?" I asked.

"I would lie to the Senate, but during trials, the praetors, senators, and centurions are forced to drink a truth-telling serum created by the children of Trivia. It forces us to reveal any information we may have kept hidden to help the defendant."

I whistled lowly. "Pretty strict rules you have there. But if you can't lie, I can. I mean, I have certain privileges here at camp as ambassador of the gods, right?"

Reyna stopped tracking a hole into her floor, giving me a small smile. "Yes," she said, beginning to sound more confident in this plan. "Your word overrides anything that the Senate or even the praetors pass. All you'd have to do is tell the legion that you were sent by the gods and that'd be the end of this problem."

"Good, then let's go do that. But first, we should tell Jason."

"Tell me what?" the son of Jupiter asked, peeking his head into Reyna's house.

Reyna swore in Latin, half-heartedly glaring at Jason while crossing her arms over her chest. "How many times have I told you to knock?" she asked in exasperation, not really angry but not all that happy either.

"I was knocking!" Jason exclaimed, inviting himself inside. "I guess you didn't hear me."

She rolled her eyes. "Whatever you say, Sparky."

"Hey!"

"Guys," I reminded them, cutting off their banter. "The plan?"

"Oh, yeah," Reyna said, turning to Jason. "Listen, Andy's going to tell the legion that she showed up today because the gods told her to, okay?"

Jason's eyebrows scrunched together in confusion. "But I called her?"

"Without my input."

Jason's eyes flew wide with surprise. A bright red dusted his cheeks. "Oh, right. My bad."

"You can say that again," I chuckled. "Personally, I'd like to have you alive, so that's the plan. Any questions, comments, or concerns?"

"Um, no?"

"You hesitated," Reyna noted, seeming slightly amused by his reaction.

"Well, what am I supposed to say? I broke a rule, and you're asking to cover for me with a lie. Doesn't that seem wrong to you?"

"Nah, not really."

"Jason, this isn't hurting anyone," I said, hoping to reassure him. "It'll be fine. Plus, I need to get going soon anyways, so might as well do this before heading back."

"You're leaving so soon?" the two praetors asked, equal looks of shock on their faces.

"Duty calls." I shrugged and got up to my feet, making sure to tuck away Reyna's note into my bag before I forgot. "Okay, let's get this over with."

Fifteen minutes, and about a million questions, later, I announced to all of Camp Jupiter that I was sent by Olympus to aid today's battle, which of course led to Octavian doubting me in front of the entire camp. Needless to say, he shut up pretty quickly when I waved a hand in his direction and a vine wrapped around his mouth, preventing him from saying another word.

Besides that, there was no other mishap, and after saying goodbye to Jason and Reyna, I shadow-traveled back to Camp Half-Blood, where I was met by Will and Luke still freaking out. And of course they'd gotten Percy and Annabeth involved, too, so now I had to answer to them as well.

Just one day of rest – is that so much to ask for?


	43. Chapter 43

Needless to say I spent the rest of my summer running around like a chicken with its head cut off, constantly running back and forth between gods in an attempt to keep them allied with Olympus. Some goddesses like Nike and Iris promised to stay faithful to the gods while others, like Nemesis and Mellinoe, said hello by trying to kill me.

Such charming personalities, right?

Anyways, as the summer drew to a close, I cut myself off from the gods again, reminding them that the school year was about to start up again and I hadn't touched any of my summer work that was due in two weeks.

But before I devoted myself completely to biology and chemistry again, I attended two last major events: the bead ceremony at camp and Percy's birthday.

The Hephaestus cabin, who had been tasked with designing this year's bead, chose to etch a gold maze onto a gray bead in honor of the Battle of the Labyrinth. On the backside of the bead were the names of the fallen demigods. I couldn't help but swallow a lump in my throat as I ran my finger over Cleo's name, wishing that she were still here, before sliding it onto my leather necklace with my other eight beads.

On the last day of camp, I rode into the city with Percy and several other campers that were catching Greyhounds to go back home. Annabeth said she was going to stay behind a little longer to take care of Chiron as his leg recovered, and Luke promised her that he'd be the one to drive her to San Francisco once she was ready. As for Will, he was staying for the year as well, saying that he needed more practice in first response care for the upcoming war.

War, such a dark, nasty word, but we all knew it was coming, especially now that Percy was about to turn fifteen.

Not to mention the fact that my dreams had been getting significantly darker, what with my father contacting me every chance he could, telling me every night that I was a traitor and that he was going to take great pleasure in killing me for siding with the Olympians. And every night, my nightmare would end with someone or something shoving me into Tartarus, my father's cruel laughter echoing in my ears as I fell into the deepest, darkest pit in the mythical world.

Even now in the van, which had no air conditioning and was driving in the middle of a sunny day, I shivered, as if someone had dumped a bucket of ice water over my head. Percy gave me a worried look, but I waved him off, which only made him more suspicious.

"Everything okay?" he asked, his hand subconsciously reaching for Riptide as Argus drove the van into one of the many tunnels that were a part of New York's highway system. I knew he'd had some bad experiences with tunnels, but not all of them were monster infested.

"Yeah," I lied, hearing Kronos' threat replay over and over in my head like a broken record. "I'm fine."

 _You will pay dearly for your transgressions, daughter,_ he'd said. _I will allow you to watch as I kill every one of your demigod friends before chopping the gods into a billion pieces as they did to me, scattering their remains into the depths of Tartarus. Then, daughter of mine, we shall have our fun, where you shall learn the consequences of your mistakes. PERISH FOR YOUR ACTIONS!_

I shook my head in attempt to rid myself of his voice, choosing to stare at the bricks lining the inside of the tunnel as we passed through. At this point, almost everything was better than my nightmares, including having to do about five hundred questions, five essays, and three research papers for school.

Ah, the joys of college.

Percy shrugged, but he didn't look convinced.

About thirty minutes later, Argus dropped Percy and me off at the bus stop. Now, I could've just shadow-traveled or mist-traveled us, but Chiron had been warning me against using my powers so much, telling me that I was drawing too much attention to myself amongst the monsters and turned gods.

"They can't know about all your abilities," Chiron had told me earlier in the morning before I left. "If they find out your true heritage, they will hate you even more, not resting until you're dead. Please, Andromeda, be careful."

I told him I'd do my best, and I'd try, but life gets messy sometimes, so we'll just have to wait and see.

Anyways, I hailed us a taxi from the bus stop, and Percy told the driver the direction to his mom's apartment. I'd made plans with Sally a few weeks ago about spending some time with the Jacksons before school started, which she seemed absolutely thrilled with.

"Mom's been going on and on about your arrival ever since you told her you were coming over," Percy said, smiling at the thought of his mother. "She said she was going to make you all your favorite treats, which she somehow knows but I don't."

"I told her that wasn't necessary," I said, a little overwhelmed by how much Sally was doing. "I should be the one bringing you guys stuff. I'm staying for two weeks, after all."

He shrugged. "You know how Mom is. Even if you brought something, she'd insist on spoiling you."

"I've met a lot of people in my life, Percy, but your mother is one of the best on the face of this planet."

Percy began beaming with pride. "Yeah, she is."

* * *

"Andromeda! Goodness, how you've grown!" Sally exclaimed, giving me a hug that rivaled Tyson's. Percy was behind me, snickering softly as I finally hugged the older woman, relaxing from merely being in her presence.

"It's only been eight months," I said, feeling my cheeks burn from so much motherly affection.

"Eight months is too long," she said before rushing over to smother Percy.

He whined about her messing up his hair (like it could get any messier), but I knew that he was really glad to see her, especially after everything that had happened at camp this summer. While he may have known he was a demigod for three years now, this was the first time he really had to face a lot of death, and that's not something you just dust of your shoulders and casually move on with your life, especially not at fourteen, almost fifteen.

Like the amazing mother she was, Sally pursed her lips together, immediately sensing that something bad had happened from the way Percy was describing this past summer. Somehow, his dumbing down of his story only made it sound more terrifying, not to mention the fact he'd already scared the hell out of his mom when he went missing and was presumed dead for two weeks.

"Percy," she said in a soft voice, pulling her son close, running a hand through his disheveled hair. "Are you alright?"

Percy turned to me, his eyes lighting up with panic, as if he didn't know how to answer the question. I gave him a silent nod, which he responded with a sigh of his own and pulling away from Sally's embrace.

"Percy," Sally said again, sounding seriously concerned about his actions. He was such a mama's boy and would usually never pull away from his mom's hugs unless Annabeth was around (it made him blush, and he hated for Annabeth to see him like that), so Sally knew something was wrong.

"I'm fine," Percy croaked out, his back facing the two of us, though I could still tell his arms were crossed over his chest, as if that was the only thing preventing him from falling apart.

Sally and I shared a look, one that said we both knew he was lying.

However, Sally didn't press on anymore, merely pressing a kiss to Percy's forehead before going into the kitchen and returning with a plate of blue chocolate cookies. While she did that, I found the Disney version of _Hercules_ , so as a joke, I placed the DVD into the media player and motioned for Percy to take a seat next to me.

"Why'd you pick _Hercules?"_ Percy asked, curling up with a fuzzy blanket and the Nemo stuffed animal that Sally had given him for his tenth birthday. "Why not _Finding Nemo?"_

"Because we watch _Finding Nemo_ every time I'm here," I said, starting to skip through the previews onto the main movie. "And even then, we'll watch it over five times in the same day."

"Because it's an amazing movie!"

I rolled my eyes, smiling at Percy's enthusiasm over what was considered a kid's movie. I know, it's cliché for the son of Poseidon to be obsessed with the Disney movie about a fish, but he'd loved the ocean long before he knew about his father. For example, I still remember when I found him reading a book about fish when I visited Sally at her Sweet on America job, the day Gabe had come in and tried to kill Percy.

Ah, good times, good times.

Finally, once the movie began, the audio was drowned out by our constant commentary, picking out every single mistake that the directors and animators made.

"Hera's not that nice," Percy grumbled when he saw the pink goddess cry over the fact that Hercules had been kidnapped. "And Hades doesn't have henchmen named Fear and Panic, that's Ares."

"Yeah, Hades has skeletons," I said, casually shoving a cookie into my mouth. "Plus, there are other ways to kill an immortal."

After the movie finished, and Percy had fallen asleep on the couch, I helped Sally with the dishes. I kid you not, between the three of us, we finished four entire plates of blue cookies, with each plate having held around twenty at a time. And, apparently, there were still more in the kitchen.

"Why'd you make so many cookies?" I asked, accepting the dish Sally had just washed off for me to dry.

"I know how much you two love them," she said as she moved a soapy dish under the running water, "so I decided to make a ton. Turns out I was right, huh?"

I felt myself blush as I dried off another plate.

"Is there anything else I can help you with?" I asked, still uncomfortable with the feeling of having someone do things for me.

Even when I lived with Mrs. Stetson, I did the majority of things by myself, only being taken care of one-on-one whenever I was seriously ill. So whenever I stayed with Sally, I never knew how to act, because she'd fuss over everything and tell me to not worry about stuff like washing dishes or doing laundry even after I'd offered to help.

Sally closed the cupboard after putting away the plates, her hands freezing for another moment as she registered the question. Then she sighed and looked me right in the eyes, her hands twisting the dishtowel as if she were trying to wring someone's neck.

"Maybe," she said softly, chewing on her bottom lip. "But I'm not sure if I want to know."

"Know what?"

She raked a hand through her hair, her body slumping forward, almost as if in defeat. "What's going to happen to my baby boy? What do the gods want with Percy?" she asked, her voice cracking on her son's name.

I winced at the question, thinking of the hundreds of things that the gods harass him for ( _cough,_ I'm looking at you Apollo, _cough_ ). But I knew what she was referring to. How could I not? If I was a mother, I'd put my child's well-being above my own in a heartbeat.

"I can't tell you all the details," I said carefully, not wanting any dream visits from angry Olympians that night. "But the prophecy will come to pass on his sixteenth birthday, and a decision he makes will decide the fate of the world."

Sally swallowed. "Oh, so just another Wednesday."

Now she was gripping the countertop, clearly trying to keep herself upright. All the blood had fled Sally's face, leaving her whiter than Nico di Angelo, which is saying something since that kid is so freaking pale. Seriously, the next time I saw him, I was going to have to convince him to get some more sunlight, dear God.

"If it means anything," I said, moving next to Sally in case she accidentally fainted, "I'm sorry."

"This isn't your fault, so don't you dare blame yourself." Sally sniffed softly, dabbing at her eyes with the dishtowel. "I should've known better than to think that nothing would come after Percy."

"Sally, I-"

She held up a hand, silencing me at once.

"It's okay, Andy. I know of everything you've done for us, and for that, I will always be indebted to you. But as a mother, this is a fear I wouldn't wish on anyone else. Percy's my world. I don't know what I'd do without him."

And with that, Sally left the kitchen, leaving me to contemplate what she'd just said.

I'd already told her time and time again that she didn't have to pay me back for anything I did for them, because I would lay down my life for the Jacksons in a millisecond. Excluding Salina, Sally was the closest thing I had to a mother, something I'd wanted ever since I was a little girl.

Not to mention the fact that Rick Riordan never went into depth about Sally's feelings about all of Percy's "adventures." For God's sake, that woman married a totally abusive asshole to keep Percy safe, so the fact that he might leave home one day and never come back was a completely reasonable fear, especially since Percy had one of the most powerful auras in the entire mythological world.

Now it was my turn to sigh as I took a seat at the bar, pulling out my ginormous chemistry textbook and a new spiral notebook, beginning to work on the first of five hundred questions.

* * *

My two weeks with Sally and Percy flew by incredibly fast, and though classes started Monday, we were able to celebrate the culmination of summer with Percy's fifteenth birthday.

It was a small affair, Percy having invited Tyson over and Paul coming after Sally had asked him to. When Paul saw me, he nearly had a heart attack, having remembered the fact that I posed as a student with Rachel Elizabeth Dare earlier in the summer to fix the band room at Goode High.

After some vague explanations, he agreed to drop the subject, but I knew I'd left the English teacher with more questions than answers.

In the meantime, the five of us celebrated by playing charades and Monopoly. Charades were amusing as we mainly looked like interpretive dancers, but Tyson, bless his soul, would tell us what he was acting out while doing the motions, earning smiles and laughs from the rest of us. As for Monopoly, Tyson was a champ, knocking Percy and me out within the first five rounds.

I thought the party was going nicely, what with the handful of blue balloons Tyson had blown up and taped around the apartment, the punch Percy and Paul served, and the three blue cakes Sally had made. As for me, I'd helped in decorating by getting Percy one of those dorky birthday hats and forcing it onto his head, much to his chagrin. But when he saw how smiley it made his mom, he stopped complaining, promising he'd get me back later on my birthday.

"You don't even know my birthday," I'd replied, laughing as he choked on his punch at the realization.

"When's-?" Percy began but got cut off by the doorbell.

"Who could that be?" Sally asked, standing up from where she'd been playing Monopoly to get the door.

The moment the door opened, Sally Jackson gasped, her face flushing bright red. Standing there, as I expected, was Poseidon, dressed in his typical Bermuda shorts, Hawaiian shirt, and a battered cap with fishing lures that read _Neptune's Lucky Fishing Hat_ across the brim.

"Pos-" Sally began before stopping herself. She was blushing to the roots of her hair, which made me wonder when she'd last seen the sea god. "Um, hello."

"Hello, Sally," Poseidon said. "You look as beautiful as ever. May I come in?"

Sally made a squeaking noise that could've passed off for a "Yes" or a "Help." Poseidon took it as a yes and came in.

Paul was watching the entire exchange, gauging our expressions. Well, Percy's and Sally's, anyways. I was already reading my book. Finally he stepped forward. "Hi, I'm Paul Blofis."

Poseidon raised his eyebrows as they shook hands. "Blowfish, did you say?"

"Ah, no. Blofis, actually."

"Oh, I see," Poseidon said. "A shame. I quite like blowfish. I am Poseidon."

Way to be subtle, I thought in my mind, shooting the god a pointed look. He noticed, shooting me a disappointed stare so guilt tripping that I forced myself to look away, scowling at what he'd done.

"Poseidon?" Paul asked. "That's an interesting name."

"Yes, I like it. I've gone by other names, but I do prefer Poseidon."

"Like the god of the sea."

"Very much like that, yes."

"Well!" Sally interrupted, clapping her hands together. "Um, we're so glad you could drop by. Paul, this is Percy's father."

"Ah." Paul nodded, though he didn't look real pleased. I didn't blame the guy, I mean, he'd asked Percy's permission to marry Sally earlier, after all. "I see."

Poseidon smiled at Percy. "There you are, my boy. And Tyson, hello, son!"

"Daddy!" Tyson bounded across the room and gave Poseidon a big hug, which almost knocked off his fishing hat.

Paul's jaw dropped. He stared at Sally. "Tyson is…"

"Not mine," she promised. "It's a long story."

"You can say that again," I whispered, flipping to my next page.

"I couldn't miss Percy's fifteenth birthday," Poseidon said. "Why, if this were Sparta, Percy would be a man today!"

"And also sent off to war," I added, earning myself a glare from the god and a look of confusion from Paul. "What? The Spartans recruited boys starting at age seven. Is it so hard to believe they'd send a fifteen-year-old to war?"

"That's true," Paul said. "I used to teach ancient history."

Poseidon's eyes regained that mischievous twinkle that Percy had inherited from him. "That's me. Ancient history. Sally, Paul, Tyson…would you mind if I borrowed Percy and Andy for just a moment?"

I had enough time to bookmark my page before Poseidon placed an arm around me, steering the both of us into the kitchen.

* * *

Once we were alone, Poseidon's smile faded.

"Are you all right, my boy?"

"Yeah. I'm fine. I guess."

"I heard stories," Poseidon said. "But I wanted to hear it directly from you. Tell me everything."

And he did, with me filling in the bits of information he forgot to mention. Don't worry, I was careful only to add detail about the parts where I was actually there with him. When we were done, he nodded slowly.

"So Kronos is indeed back." I flinched at the mention of his name. Seriously, I think I flinch more around the name Kronos than as if I were in the Wizarding world around the name Voldemort. At least Voldemort didn't gain any actual power when people said his name. "It will not be long until full war is upon us."

"Don't say our father's name," I said instinctively, glaring at Poseidon for speaking our father's name. "Not to mention that we're already at war. Well, you are, anyways."

Percy looked shock. "What do you mean by that?" he asked me, glancing between me and Poseidon. "And what about Kyle? Is he really gone?"

"I don't know, Percy. It is most disturbing."

"But his body is mortal. Couldn't you just destroy him?"

"Percy, Kyle's no longer mortal, not fully anyways," I explained, fiddling with my charms. "For someone to prepare himself to host a Titan," – I shuddered at the thought "– well, it's not a pleasant process, to say the least."

Now both the men in the room were confused.

"How can someone prepare to host a Titan?" Poseidon asked, pensively stroking his beard.

"Have you not been paying attention to my debriefings?" I asked, placing a hand on my hip. At least Poseidon had the audacity to appear to be embarrassed. I shook my head before continuing. "Anyhow, other than pledging one's fidelity to the Titan he is hosting, one must bathe in the River Styx. That is the only way to prevent an immortal's overwhelming power to prevent from burning the host body from the inside out."

Percy was clutching his stomach and pale, like he wasn't sure if he was going to pass out or throw up first. "Oh gods," he muttered, steadying himself with the countertop. Like mother, like son, I guess. "Then how do we defeat him?"

"He will not be easily killed," Poseidon warned. "And yet, I fear he must be killed if we are to send Kro-" – I cleared my throat, preventing the god from finishing that word – "sorry, _Father,_ back to the pit. Happy now, Andy?"

"Not necessarily happy in this situation, but more at ease."

He shrugged. "Same thing. However, I'm currently having other problems of my own that would be less chaotic if _someone_ had decided to come."

I rolled my eyes. Poseidon had a flair for the dramatics today, it seemed.

"You know damn well why I refused your offer, Poseidon, so don't you dare guilt trip me into this," I seethed.

"It's not my fault that Cleo was killed in battle."

Anger burned in my chest like I was about to spontaneously combust. I clenched my hands into fists at my sides, desperately trying not to deck Poseidon in the nose right then and there.

"That's not why I turned down your offer," I said, my voice tight and clipped. "I said no, because Triton told me Amphitrite put a bounty on my head. Or are you unaware of your wife's jealousy when you're around other women?"

Poseidon scowled. "That doesn't make any sense. First of all, you are much too young for me, and secondly, you're my sister."

"That hasn't stopped you before."

His face darkened. "And what do you mean by that?"

"Um, have you forgotten that you became a horse to have your way with Demeter?"

"Oh, _that."_

Percy shuddered with disgust. "Really, Dad?" he asked, his face a sickly shade of gray. I handed him a bucket from under the sink just in case. "Lady Demeter?"

"Zeus did it too," Poseidon grumbled, his eyes glued on the floor.

"Yes, because Zeus is such a great example to follow." I rolled my eyes. "Anyways, that's not why you're here. For all of our sakes, give Percy his birthday present before the Titan of the sea launches another attack while you're here."

"Present?" Percy asked, glancing at Poseidon, confusion evident in his eyes. The sea god flinched at the sight, not having expected his own son to be so surprised at the idea of giving him a gift for his birthday.

News flash, this was the first time he'd ever shown up to any of Percy's birthdays, so a little bit of shock was to be expected.

"Yes, a birthday present." Poseidon reached into his pocket and pulled out a sand dollar roughly the size of his palm and pressed it into Percy's hand. "Spend it wisely."

"Uh, spend a sand dollar?" he asked, turning it over and inspecting it, as if he was expecting something else to come out of it.

"Oh, yes. In my day, you could buy quite a lot with a sand dollar. I think you will find it still buys a lot, if used in the right situation."

"What situation?"

"When the time comes, I think you'll know."

"So cryptic," I muttered, shaking my head. Poseidon shot me a sideways glance, and I held my hands up in surrender. "Hey, I know why the gods are like that, but it doesn't mean I like it."

"It's a blessing as well as a curse."

"Nah, it's just a curse."

"Why?" Percy asked, pulling his puppy dog eyes on the both of us. "What do you know about my future?"

The both of us winced.

Then we had a silent fight with a few glances, which I totally won. Poseidon sighed and placed a hand on Percy's shoulder, saying something in a voice barely louder than a whisper to his son.

I took that as my moment to leave, giving the two some much needed privacy as I returned to the party, ignoring the worry so clearly etched onto Sally's face and praying to every god that Percy wouldn't ask me about his future again.

I didn't need to have him worried for a year about whether he was going to see the day after his sixteenth birthday or not. I'd make sure that he would, but come on, I wasn't allowed to divulge that kind of information, not without causing for someone to pay an insanely price.

So, until next summer, I just have to keep my mouth shut and hope for the best.

* * *

 **So, I saw Endgame today and am still in shock at the ending. It was really good, so I hope you all get a chance to see it if you're into Marvel movies.**

 **And one other thing: DON'T SPOIL THE ENDGAME for others, please, please, please!**

 **Thanks for reading! :D**


	44. Chapter 44

Going back to school was just as bad as I remembered, especially when I found out from Leah that Dr. Atomos had finally called it quits and retired, meaning that we'd be getting a new chemistry professor for the last two years of school.

"Fun," I'd muttered as I clutched my summer assignments and textbooks under my raincoat, the rain pouring down in sheets outside. You know, for going to such a prestigious school, you'd think they'd have canopies for students to walk underneath, but no-o-o.

"Of course," Leah said, pushing aside her soaked hair so that it wasn't dripping onto her books, "you would've known that if you came to orientation in July. Or, you know, if you picked up my calls or responded to my texts."

I sighed as my hand closed around our door handle, pulling it open for the both of us to walk into the lab for today's experiment. Of course, Joe and Pete were already there, flailing their arms above their heads to catch our attention, earning themselves wads of paper to the back of the heads courtesy of two boys that'd I'd never seen before.

"I already told you," I said as we moved towards our seats. "I don't have a phone."

"Then how did Pete call you earlier in the summer?"

"That was a friend's phone. And it just so happened that I was there when Pete called."

"Yeah, sure," Leah scoffed, huffing angrily as she slammed her books down on her desk. From the way she pulled out a pen and flipped open to the first chapter, I knew she wasn't going to be talking to me again for the rest of the period.

I didn't make any motion to talk to her either, preferring to eavesdrop on the boys' conversation. Though, I began tuning them out when I heard them come up with plans on how to prank whoever our new chemistry professor was going to be.

"Knock it off," one of the newcomers said, chucking another ball of paper at the back of Joe's head. For some reason, he was wearing sunglasses even though he was inside and it was raining outside, but whatever floats your boat, I guess.

"Oh, geez," the second boy muttered, pulling his hat lower on his face, as if he were trying his best to become invisible. "Pete, I don't want a repeat of Mrs. Sherman's class again!"

Pete merely smiled back at the boy, expertly dodging another wad of paper from the first boy. "Lighten up, Patrick. College is way more relaxed than high school."

"Unless you go to an Ivy League," I pointed out, "which we do. So, no, we're never relaxed. Don't you remember last year's finals?"

Pete and Joe shuddered in unison.

"We don't speak of those days," Joe said ominously, hiding his face behind his hands. "Those are the days which make accounting look like a viable career option."

"Hey, what's wrong with being an accountant?"

"Nothing, Andy, but just imagine dealing with numbers all day. The horror."

"Says the guy who wants to be a software engineer."

Pete pretended to faint, causing Joe to laugh, Patrick to sink lower in his seat, and Andy (huh, same name, I guess these were the guys Pete wanted to introduce me to) to shake his head, probably thinking _Why am I friends with these idiots?_

Little did I know, those two newcomers would become some good friends of mine as well, always joining movie nights and late night study sessions, where enough coffee was consumed to kill three large water buffalo.

But as much as I loved hanging out with my little group of five (six if I counted myself), having two more friends made it that much harder to keep my secret. It wasn't helping matters that I was still being called upon by the camp every other day to help secure the boarders or train the younger campers.

While Luke had taken my place as the head of the swordsmanship class, Chiron had given me another role, this time as the Monsters and Myth teacher. It was my job to teach every camper in that course about all the most prominent monsters in the mythological world that they were likely to face as long as those who were famous, like the Minotaur, Medusa, Minos, and the like.

Basically, imagine an Ancient Greek history course on steroids and all the focus is on the mythological. Yeah, not exactly the easiest thing to teach to tons of children with ADHD, watching as their eyes glazed over during my lessons. I mean, I tried to make it as interesting as possible, but some myths, like that of Aeolus, were dry and boring despite them being so essential to one's survival.

I knew my friends were growing suspicious of my late night escapades, constantly watching me with worried glances, as if they were afraid I was a part of the Mafia or something. Honestly, I was afraid that they were going to place a tracking device in my stuff just so they could make sure I was safe.

Let me tell you, as the school year progressed and projects and homework steadily increased, I had to spend more time on school commitments while still having to balance my other duties, which ended up stressing my friends out more than myself for some weird reason.

And I tried my best to keep them out of the mythological world, but, well…even the best of intentions don't always play out the way you want them to.

* * *

It was a freezing February day when I was forced to tell my friends the truth about the world we live in.

The five of us had gotten out of classes early that day, seeing as a freshman had accidentally created chlorine gas in the biochemistry lab, so we decided to go to Times Square. In the few months that Andy and Patrick had been here, they'd never been to Times Square, which surprised Leah so much that she made it her mission to bring them there before the end of the school year.

Mission accomplished.

Anyways, as the five of us made our way through the crowded sidewalks of Times Square, being careful to avoid the crazy cab drivers and street vendors that shoved "I love New York" merchandise in your face and screamed for you to buy it, each one of us clutching a steaming beverage from Starbucks as the snow continued to fall around us.

"You know," Patrick was saying, eyeing the huge M&M World that was across the street, "I didn't think I'd be this cold, coming from Chicago and all. Guess I was wrong."

"Do you really want to go inside?" Pete asked, raising his eyebrows at his friend as he took a long sip from his coffee. "Because we could, if you want to."

"Yeah, I'm freezing," Leah replied, tying her scarf tighter around her neck before pulling her beanie down so that it covered the tips of her ears. Her breath turned to steam from how cold it was. "But not M&M World," she said. "If we can find a Barnes and Nobles or something, that'd be much better."

"Why not a movie theater?" Joe asked.

"You'll just force us to watch some horror movie with you guys," I said, disposing of my now empty coffee cup as I passed by a trash can. "Those things rot your brain, you know."

"Not true!"

"Uh, yeah, it is," Andy scoffed, readjusting his sunglasses. Of the five of us, he was the least affected by the cold, perfectly comfortable in basketball shorts and a black sweater, which the rest of us couldn't understand. Poor Patrick was shaking so hard I thought he was going to go into shock soon. "Every time you've suggested we go to the movie theater, we've watched a horror movie."

"Plus, we have that killer psych test about the nervous system in two days," I reminded them. "At least in a book store, they'll have books on psychology."

"Boo, you're no fun," Pete pouted, earning a slap on the arm from Leah. "But, fine, Barnes and Nobles it is."

"Yay!" Leah squealed, clapping her hands together in excitement before grabbing Joe and Pete's hands, skipping forward through the crowded sidewalks, completely ignoring all the nasty words and glances shot her way.

Andy gave me a once over. "You're not going to drag us, are you?"

"Not unless you want me to," I said with a shrug, readjusting my gloves as I felt them begin to slide off.

"Uh, guys," Patrick said, tapping me aggressively on the shoulder. "What the hell is _that?"_

He pointed to the other side of the street, where a man about seven feet tall was standing, wearing a dark trench coat and hat, like any stereotypical villain would be dressed in. But it wasn't just his height or clothing that made him suspicious, no, it was the fact that I could see the single eye sitting right in the middle of his forehead that made my blood turn to ice.

I didn't care so much about the fact that I was staring at a Cyclops – I'd already lost track of how many Cyclopes I've defeated – no, what concerned me was the fact that he was staring right back at me, a necklace dangling from the end of a crooked finger.

A necklace that contained a star and cloud charm.

I gasped, feeling the weight of my own charms on my wrist, praying that this was just some decoy and that this Cyclops hadn't actually taken those charms from Percy or Leo.

"We need to go," I said urgently, clamping my hands on either boy's wrist and beginning to drag them into the crowd even though I'd just said I wouldn't.

"What's wrong?" Andy asked, trying to look at what freaked Patrick out so much. "I don't see anything."

"He's horrible!" Patrick cried, his face paler than the ice on the road. "How did you _not_ see him?"

"See what?"

"He's right behind us!"

I risked a look over my shoulder and swore when I saw that Patrick was right. This Cyclops was after me, and now that he knew Andy and Patrick were my friends, he'd try to hurt them too.

I broke out into a run, gesturing for the boys to follow me as we shoved our way past other New Yorkers, ignoring every swear word yelled at us. Eventually we caught up with Leah, Pete, and Joe, with Patrick only pausing to scream, "Run!" before also dragging them along behind me.

As I tried to lead my friends to safety, I let my feet go on autopilot, knowing this part of New York better than the back of my hand. Honestly, I wasn't too surprised when I found myself coming to a stop in front of the large fountain in the middle of the shopping plaza, watching as my friends arrived out of breath, collapsing onto their knees from exhaustion.

"Andromeda, what's going on?" Leah demanded, shoving Patrick's inhaler into his trembling hands. Patrick then pumped two squirts of the medicine into his mouth, sighing in relief as he threw his head back, gulping in mass quantities of air.

Before I could explain anything, I had enough time to say, "Watch out!" and throw up a dome of water before a standard issue New York taxi cab came flying toward us, crumpling on impact from slamming into my shield.

"Get out of here!" I yelled at my friends, summoning Epithymia as I scanned my surroundings, trying to find the Cyclops who'd become my stalker.

"Not until you tell us!" Leah demanded.

"Andy, behind you!" Joe shouted.

Both of us turned around, but seeing that the Cyclops was charging at me now, I figured the message was for me.

With the water shield I already had up, I turned the water into different ropes and had them tie the Cyclops down, pinning him down onto the ground. All around us, civilians were screaming and fleeing. I could hear the sound of police sirens starting to go off.

But apparently that Cyclops hadn't been alone, because I heard a woman's deranged laughter and…was that a lion's roar? It couldn't be, because the zoo was on the other side of the city, but yet here I was, hearing a lion roaring.

As if I didn't have enough to be worried about, I swallowed back a lump of fear as I watched Echidna and the Chimera walk out of an alleyway, each of them as horrendous as Rick Riordan had described them.

Patrick was screaming his head off, yelling about the monsters he could see while the others stared at him in concern and waited for me to explain what they were caught in the middle of.

"There's nothing there," Pete insisted, trying to soothe Patrick. "It's just a fat lady and her Chihuahua."

"No Chihuahua has a lion's head that breathes fire!"

"Patrick, the Chihuahua isn't breathing fire. Are you all right? What did they put in your hot chocolate?"

"Oh, how interesting," Echidna said, her black, slimy lips curling back into a feral smile, her beady eyes shining with nothing but malice. "You know, dearie, it's so very dangerous to have the princess out and about with nothing but mere mortals to accompany her. They're such fragile things, mortals, which is why Sonny will have great pleasure in tearing them to shreds!"

"I am _not_ the princess," I hissed, brandishing Epithymia towards the Chimera, hoping to keep its attention on me instead of my friends. "If my father told you to call me that, you can tell him to shove his scythe where the sun doesn't shine. I will not join him, and you will _not_ be hurting my friends, you stupid ant-eater!"

"Gah, I hate Australia! Die!"

Before any fighting could actually begin, I drove the point of my sword into the ground, watching as a flood of golden light encased everything within the plaza I was in. Knowing that I couldn't hold this spell for long, I took care of the Cyclops, Echidna, and the Chimera before picking up Epithymia, which ended the spell.

I stumbled and would've fallen on my face if it weren't for Andy's quick reflexes.

Patrick was still a blubbering mess, which completely broke my heart seeing that he was by far one of the sweetest people I've ever had the pleasure of meeting. Pete and Andy were trying so hard to comfort him while Joe and Leah tapped their feet impatiently, demanding an explanation.

"I'll explain," I promised them through labored breaths, ignoring the tingling feeling in my hand as I swirled it around in the fountain water to regain some strength. But it was taking too long, and the cops were on their way, so I summoned my bag, took out half a square of ambrosia, and quickly devoured the godly food.

I winced as the sirens began getting closer, knowing we'd be the ones in massive trouble if we stayed any longer.

"We need to go," I said, struggling to my feet.

"No," Leah said, crossing her arms over her chest defiantly. "I'm not going anywhere until you tell me what just happened. Who were those people? What did they want?"

"And why did that lady call you a princess? And why would you turn your back on your father? I thought you didn't know who he was?" Joe asked.

"I promise, I'll tell you everything, but if we don't go right now…" I swore as I saw the first cop care pull up. "We're out of time. Everyone get in a circle right now."

"But-"

"I said, _now!"_

Surprised by my outburst, my friends quickly did what I asked, and before the cops could reach us, the five of us faded into the mist, disappearing from that plaza with the next gust of wind.

* * *

By the time I'd finished explaining everything, I was pretty sure my friends thought that I belonged in a psych ward. Not that I blamed them. My life sounded like it belonged in a book (which, technically, it was), too fantastical to be considered real.

"Yeah, right," Leah scoffed once I'd finished. "If Kronos is your dad, then I'm Aphrodite."

I winced. "I wouldn't say that if I were you. She doesn't appreciate competition."

"Andromeda, she's not real. None of the Greek gods are real. They're just some myths made up by the Ancient Greeks to explain natural phenomena that they didn't understand."

"Then how do you explain those monsters?" Patrick asked, fidgeting with the hem of his jacket. "I may not like mythology as much as you do, Leah, but I know what a Cyclops is, and that was what was in that trench coat. Plus, if Andy's lying, how do you explain the water shield or ropes, the freezing time, or the teleporting?"

"I agree with Patrick," Pete said, leaning back in his chair so that he was balancing on the two back legs. "Sure, it sounds like a story, but too many things happened today that can't be explained by science. The notion of these gods existing, well, it makes the most sense to me."

"What Pete said," Andy commented, drumming his fingers on the table out of sheer boredom.

"And you, Joe?" I asked, staring at my curly-haired friend. "Do you believe me?"

He sighed and scratched his head, like he was really struggling to wrap his mind around what had happened today.

"I-I don't know, to tell you the truth," Joe said with a sigh, his shoulders slumping forward. "Science can't explain what happened, but at the same time, everything happened so quickly that I'm not sure if my mind was playing tricks on me or not. For all I know, everything I saw could've been the result of a hallucination."

"See," Leah said triumphantly. "A hallucination, not monsters."

"Hallucinations can't be shared, remember?" I said. "We learned that in psychology the other day. So unless we're all the same person, no one was hallucinating."

"I still don't believe that the Greek gods are real."

Once again, I winced as I heard thunder rumble overhead. "Shut up, drama king," I muttered, glaring up at the ceiling. "She doesn't know better."

"Who are you talking to?" Pete asked.

"Oh, Zeus. He's slightly annoyed about this conversation, to say the least." I sighed, running a hand through my curls. "But I'll deal with him later. I always do."

"Whoa, you're friends with the King of Olympus?" Patrick asked, his baby blue eyes wide with awe.

"He's my half-brother, actually. We have the same father."

"You seriously believe her?" Leah asked impatiently, her arms stubbornly crossed over her chest.

"I got all the proof I needed after today's fight."

"Well, I didn't."

"That's enough," I said, ending the argument before we'd get thrown out of Barnes & Noble for being too disruptive. "You want proof? Fine. Pick an Olympian."

Leah blinked, clearly not expecting that question. "Any Olympian?"

I shrugged. "Might as well throw in Hades and Hestia while we're at it."

She was silent for a few moments before finally saying, "Demeter. I choose Demeter."

"Okay, give me a second." I stood up from the table we'd taken over and walked outside, searching for any type of plant.

Kind of hard to find any form of greenery in the concrete jungle that is New York City, especially in the dead of winter, where ice and snow coated absolutely everything. Made me wonder if Khione had something against New York, but what did I know. Luckily, she was one of those goddesses that I didn't have to visit, so that was nice, I guess.

After some more searching, I found a bare rose bush growing out of a little windowsill garden and snipped off a single branch before returning back to my friends, who were all glaring at each other, still taking sides over whether they thought I was telling the truth or not.

"What's that dead branch going to prove?" Andy asked, curiosity clear as day in his voice as he poked the branch with a straw, making sure that it was real.

"That I'm telling the truth." I handed the branch to Leah. "Hold this for me."

I could tell that she was bursting with questions, but I placed a finger to my lips, telling her to be quiet and simply watch.

I placed a finger on the tip of the branch, shutting my eyes as images of springtime flooded my mind. I remembered the rose bush that Jade, Rebecca, and I would tend to back at the orphanage, and how beautifully it would bloom around April, producing elegant and fragrant pink roses.

"Oh, wow," I heard Joe gasp.

"I can't believe it," Leah whispered. "This can't be real."

I finally opened my eyes, seeing that the small branch, which hadn't been longer than five inches, was now as long as the table we were sitting at, the branch blooming with a dozen radiant red roses. I retracted my hand from the branch, watching the looks of shock on my friends' faces.

"How did you do that?" Pete asked, running his fingers lightly over the petals of the roses closest to him. "All you had was a twig!"

"The power of Demeter," I said with a smirk. "Goddess of agriculture and the harvest. Although she has an unhealthy obsession with cereal, she's a pretty chill Olympian compared to some of the others. And she has amazing powers, too, like being able to grow anything, which she passes onto her children. One of her daughters, Katie Gardner, grows a new bouquet of flowers every day to give to her friends."

"That's so cool!" Joe exclaimed, wincing when he pricked his finger on one of the thorns. I took his finger, checking if the thorn had gotten stuck in his skin, before handing him a napkin and saying that he'd be fine.

"But how?" Leah asked, setting the branch down as if it were a stick of dynamite. Before anyone else could look at the branch, I waved my hand over it, watching as the roses wilted and died before the wood rotted away, leaving me only with some shriveled petals to dispose of.

"The gods are real, and they have kids," I said bluntly. "And those kids have issues."

"Like what?" Patrick asked.

"Most demigods have ADHD and dyslexia. The ADHD helps keep us alive during a fight, because we can see and comprehend everything that's going on around us while still being able to focus on the task at hand. As for the dyslexia, that's because our brains are wired for Ancient Greek, not English. Luckily, I don't have dyslexia, but that means I have to study more compared to other demigods when it comes to mastering Ancient Greek."

"Cool."

"Eh, not really." I sighed. "Sure, the powers are awesome, but the gods can't visit their kids, and the majority of us die before we reach eighteen. I've already lost more friends to monsters than I would like to admit." I shut my eyes, knowing that this would still hurt to say. "I lost my best friend, a daughter of Apollo named Cleo, this past summer. She was only fifteen when she had her heart ripped out of her chest."

My four friends winced in sync.

"Nope, not cool anymore."

"But you're twenty-two," Joe pointed out. "And you're pretty powerful. So how are you still alive?"

I cracked a smile at that. "Some of us do make it into adulthood, you know? Plus, I've been trained by the Olympians themselves ever since I was fourteen. I can kill a person seventy-three different ways with my bare hands because of them."

"Oh, how lovely."

My smile widened. "I know, right? Anyways, that's why I'm always disappearing at the weirdest times. My father, the Titan King, is waging war against the Olympians and their children, and it's my responsibility to minimize as many demigod casualties as possible."

Leah exhaled deeply in defeat. "Alright, Andy, you win. I believe."

* * *

After my friends learned the truth, school became a million times easier for me. My friends now understood why it was so important for me to go when I was called upon, and when I'd be out all night, they would help me finish the previous night's homework and have an entire pot of coffee waiting for me to help me through the day.

Best friends, right there.

But while my life may have been getting easier, that certainly wasn't the case for Percy.

When spring break arrived, he called me via Iris-message, asking for me to come spend the two weeks with him at his mother's apartment. The fear was so evident in his voice that my heart ached to tell him the truth – that he would be okay in the end – but seeing that I was forbidden from doing so, I accepted his invitation, telling him that I'd be happy to spend spring break with him and his family.

Those two weeks, I made it my mission to take Percy out on any excursion he wanted to do, giving Sally and Paul some alone time seeing that they'd just gotten married last month and hadn't been able to have a proper honeymoon because of monetary reasons and scheduling issues.

Needless to say, once I knew that the newlyweds hadn't gotten to go on their honeymoon yet, I got them a hotel reservation at one of the nicest resorts in Clearwater, Florida, where on a nice day, the water was completely see through and still, as if walking into a pool instead of going into the ocean.

Sally and Paul had tried to turn down the vacation, but at Percy and my insistence, they finally agreed to go, seeming very excited about getting some time to themselves.

As for Percy and me, well, I took him wherever he wanted to go, including go-kart driving, Coney Island, the beach, Camp Half-Blood (to see Annabeth…ignore my fangirl screaming), the movie theater, Rachel Elizabeth Dare's house (I was almost punched her dad one time for one of his snobby remarks about Percy's ADHD and Rachel's art), the aquarium, etc.

I didn't blame him for trying to cram in so many activities into two weeks. For one thing, most schools didn't have more vacation days after spring break, meaning students just had to hang on for the ride until summer break, and secondly, once summer began, Percy would be stuck in full on training mode until after his sixteenth birthday.

And while during the day he'd act like nothing was wrong, I'd always have to run into his room around two or three in the morning to wake him up from a nightmare, holding him in a tight embrace as he tried to fight off panic attacks on a nightly basis.

Seriously, I knew he had worse dreams than most demigods, but I think in this timeline his dreams are much worse than what they used to be. I mean, no fifteen-year-old kid should have such pronounced bags under their eyes because of nightmares.

As cheesy as they were, I found that Percy usually slept better if there was a dream catcher in his room. Sure, they pertained more to Native American mythology than Greek, but, hey, if it works, it works.

Sadly, the two weeks flew by too quickly for either one of our likings, neither one of us wanting to go back to school.

"Freshman year sucks," Percy grumbled as he poured an unhealthy amount of syrup onto his blue pancakes, painfully aware of the fact that today was the last day of spring break.

"Oh, just wait until junior year," I said, adding some sugar and milk to my coffee. "It'll make freshman year seem like a piece of cake."

"Assuming I'm still alive to make it to junior year." Percy aggressively stabbed his pancakes before shoving his fork into his mouth.

And on that happy note, we finished eating breakfast in silence, dreading having to go back to school and concerned about the summer to come.


	45. Chapter 45

"No," I said, slamming my laptop shut as the bell rang, no longer looking forward to my weekend. "I will not put you guys in any danger, not if I can help it."

"Oh, come on!" Pete whined, pouting and pulling his puppy dog eyes, as if that would make me change my mind. Please, if I could withstand Will, Percy, and Nico's puppy eyes, I could withstand anything. "Don't you think we should learn to protect ourselves from," he lowered his voice, "you know, the monsters?"

I rolled my eyes as I joined the stream of students rushing out of the classroom, our brains completely fried from the nightmare of a biology test we'd just had. But of course, Pete wouldn't let me live down the fact that I had powers, preferring to study me like I was a specimen under a microscope instead of looking at the actual specimen we were supposed to be analyzing.

"You're a mortal," I reminded him, waving back to Leah, who was waiting with Andy while standing on the stairs leading up to the school's library. As for Patrick and Joe, I think they were making up a lab with the new chemistry teacher, but I wasn't really sure. "Monsters won't bother you. Plus, it's not like you can see them anyways."

"I did that one time you did that voodoo magic on me." Pete then proceeded to make the motion of dragging three fingers across his heart and then pushing outwards.

I slapped his hand down, whisper yelling, "Don't do that! Do you _want_ to get yourself killed?"

"So I _can_ see the monsters if I do that!" Pete exclaimed, his eyes alight with a deranged sense of joy, almost as if someone told him he won the lottery knowing that he was going to die the next day.

I groaned and shook my head, causing for Leah and Andy to stare at the two of us curiously. "Why do I even try with you?" I asked Pete, beginning the familiar climb up the stairs to the library.

"Everything alright?" Leah asked, her fingers twitching around a ball of rubber bands that she had made last night, clearly debating about whether to throw it at Pete or not.

"It would be if Andy trained us," Pete said, taking the stairs two at a time.

"Trained, as in combat training?" she asked. "Like, punching people?"

"I prefer monster killing, actually."

I rolled my eyes again.

"You're crazy," Andy declared before shoving his earbuds back in, completely tuning the rest of us out.

"Thank you," I said with a sigh of relief. "Someone who has some common sense."

"No, no, I think Pete has a valid point," Leah said, holding the door open to the library. "I mean, now that we know what kind of things coexist alongside us, shouldn't we learn how to defend ourselves?"

"You're mortals," I reminded them again. "Monsters don't bother you guys if you stay out of their way."

"Then why do they come after you?"

"Because I smell."

Pete actually leaned over the table so that his face was right next to my neck before taking in a huge whiff. I squirmed in my seat, uncomfortable with his close proximity to my neck.

"Yeah, you do smell," Pete said. "You smell like coconuts and honey. What's your hair care routine?"

"Back off," Leah said, finally throwing her rubber band ball at Pete. But he caught it and stuck his tongue out, causing for Leah to huff and settle with kicking his shin.

"Hey, I was just investigating!"

As I was about to retort, I felt my charms start to burn my flesh, as if I'd dropped the metal into molten lava and then put the bracelet back on. Swearing as I squeezed the cloud charm between my fingers, I felt myself slump forward, Percy's voice echoing around my head like a broken record hooked up the world's largest speakers.

"Percy?" I mentally asked, closing my eyes in an attempt to stave off a forming headache. "What's wrong?"

"Something happened at school," he said in one breath, panic evident in his voice. "I can't stop this by myself, and I tried to call Annabeth, but it went straight to voicemail, and I don't know where Rachel is, and Chiron won't…"

"I'm coming, Percy. Just hang on."

"Please hurry. Something's seriously wrong with Paul."

"On my way."

I sat up with a groan, rubbing my aching temples, ignoring the looks of concern on my friends' faces as I hastily shoved everything into my bag and fled towards the math section of the library. Unsurprisingly, the math section was completely devoid of any people, giving me the chance to turn my bag back into its charm.

"Andy, where are you going?" Leah asked, her face flushed with worry.

"S.O.S. call," I said, summoning a dagger to my hand before shoving it into the waistband of my shorts. "I'll be back when I can."

"Stay safe."

I shot her a crooked smile. "I'll do my best."

Then I leapt into the shadows, feeling as the world dissolved around me.

* * *

If I thought college life was chaotic, I clearly forgot what it was like to be a high schooler, especially in a high school in a place as crowded as Manhattan.

Seeing that it was only around one, classes were still going on, and if Goode was anything like my high school, then some kids were currently eating lunch right now. But something had happened that made it so that kids weren't in class or in the cafeteria, instead shoving past each other in the hallways like they'd just been volunteered into the running of the bulls.

And the fact that everyone was screaming didn't do much to calm my nerves either.

"Exit the building in a calm and orderly manner!" a teacher was announcing through the P.A. system, but a few moments later, the voice cut off and was replaced with the ominous sound of static.

As for me, who had just landed in the middle of the chaos, I was quickly shoved to the side, learning what lockers tasted like for the umpteenth time in my life. Fortunately, or unfortunately, I knew what it was like to be shoved around this violently thanks to Holly and Carol from my Earth, so other than accepting the fact that I'd have a couple of bruises, I pushed against the crowd until I stumbled into an alcove where the water fountain and bathrooms were.

While the thousands of high schoolers rushed by, screaming their heads off, I used my time in the alcove trying to orient myself. Apparently my mind remembered the layout of Goode, because I remembered this hallway as a part of the tour Paul had given me last year, and if I was right, then his classroom was just a little way down the hallway from here.

"What's going on?" I asked, pulling a random high schooler into the alcove with me for a few seconds.

"He has a gun!" the boy gasped, his blue eyes wide, full of fear. "He's going to kill us all!"

"Who has a gun?"

"I don't know! Some man has a gun!"

In my daze, the boy wrenched his hand from my grasp and took off running, screaming what sounded like a prayer as he faded in the crowd.

"Alright," I said to myself, rubbing my hand, which had just gotten slammed into the wall courtesy of a terrified teenager. "Enough."

I waved my hand over the crowd, allowing for time to slow around me. I then quickly jostled my way through the crowd, only dropping the spell once I was standing right outside of Paul's door, which had been completely ripped off its hinges.

I was instantly on guard, my hand tightly gripping the hilt of my not-so-concealed dagger as I entered the room, scanning for any signs of danger.

Paul's room, which had been so nicely decorated with actually interesting literary posters and pictures of all the places he's visited that played a significant role in the novels he assigned, appeared as if a hurricane had just blown through. Desks were overturned, papers were covering everything, the lights had stopped working, including the emergency lights, and a dark pool of some liquid was coming from Paul's desk, which was now turned on its side, the computer precariously hanging by its wires.

I breathed a huge sigh of relief when the light emitting from my dagger revealed the puddle as nothing more than spilled coffee. At least Paul hadn't been pinned under the desk, I thought to myself, searching for the missing English teacher and the friend who'd called me here in the first place.

"Percy?" I asked, turning slowly, getting a 3600 picture of the room. "Where are you?"

"In here," I heard him hiss. "Next to the white board."

There was so much carnage that I'd completely missed the storage closet by the front of the room. Even with the light from my dagger, it was hard to find the definitive edges of the doorway because of the amount of desks stacked on top of each other.

I pulled the desks aside, not flinching as they clattered loudly to the floor, determined on figuring out what the hell had just happened here.

"Paul's over here," Percy said, Riptide's glow illuminating the darkness better than my dagger could. He shouldered past some fallen shelves, pushing books aside as we reached the back of the closet, where Paul was lying prone on the floor, his face buried deep into the debris.

"Help me get this bookshelf off of him," I told Percy once I noticed that his legs were pinned beneath the wood. Between the two of us, we were able to push the bookshelf aside, ignoring the fact that we'd just caused a domino effect, knocking over the remaining bookshelves.

"He won't respond," Percy told me as we log rolled Paul so that he was on his back. "I checked his pulse and breathing, so I know he's not in cardiac arrest, but I didn't see anything indicative of a concussion or seizure."

I inhaled deeply as I held my dagger over Paul's face, seeing the dark rings around his eyes. "Percy," I said, my hands fumbling to summon my bag to get to my first aid kit. "I need you to hold your sword above Paul's head, close enough so I can use the light to see."

Percy did as I asked.

My fingers finally closed around my small flashlight, and after quickly pulling on some gloves, I shined the light in Paul's eyes, biting back a wince when I saw that both his pupils were blown grossly out of proportion. Just to check, I shut his eyelids and did the test again, struggling to keep a straight face once I was positive that his pupils were no longer reacting to light stimuli like they should have.

My suspicions were only confirmed when I saw how large the dark rings were, except in the medical field, this is known as raccoon eyes, and that usually only occurs as a result of a traumatic brain injury.

Gently, after telling Percy to stabilize C-spine, I examined Paul's head, finding an extremely deep gash that ran the length from the nape of his neck to the tip of his left ear. In addition to blood staining my gloves, I was greeted with the sight of a clear fluid that appeared like mucus, but seeing that it was coming from his head injury, I was positive I was looking at cerebral spinal fluid.

"Is he going to be okay?" Percy asked, looking up at me, his eyes shining with concern. But from the way he set his jaw, I could tell he was choosing not to cry, knowing that Paul was relying on him.

"I don't know," I told him helplessly, having been completely in the dark about this event happening in the books. As far as I knew, this _didn't_ happen in the books and was a completely unscripted event. "But Paul has a really bad head trauma injury, and if we don't get him to a hospital soon, it's not going to end well for him." I stood up and broke off a piece of a bookshelf to use as a spine board. "On my count, we move him. One, two, three."

We grunted as we quickly, but carefully, moved Paul onto the makeshift spine board, praying to God that we hadn't severed his spinal cord from all the sudden movements.

"He needs to get to an operating room, _now,"_ I said, finally finding the C-collar in my bag and easing Paul's neck into it. Yes, ever since my training with Apollo, I carried around things like C-collars with me at all times.

"But he's too unstable to move, and the cops are on their way," Percy said. "Not to mention that something's out there. Can't you operate on him?"

"I'm not a neurosurgeon, unfortunately, but…" I fumbled around my bag yet again, my fingers closing around the piece of technology I swore I'd never reveal to anyone else other than Luke and Will.

"What are you doing with that phone?" Percy glared at the technology like he was debating slicing it in half with Riptide. "We don't need any more monsters at the moment."

"It's monster-proof," I told him, quickly finding the contact I was looking for and dialing her. God, I hoped she picked up.

"Hello?" she asked, and I breathed a huge sigh of relief.

"Hey, Raina, it's Andy."

"Oh, hi, Andy! What's up? When are you going to drop by? It's been at least a year since your last visit, I think."

"Raina, while I'd love to catch up with you, I'm kinda in a major situation right now?"

I could hear her frown. "What do you need?"

"I need an OR immediately. Get a neurosurgeon and trauma surgeon."

"You're _so_ lucky I'm at work right now. We'll be ready in two minutes. Meet me in OR five."

I sighed again. "You're the best."

"I know. See you soon."

"Who was that?" Percy asked, cringing as we heard heavy footsteps coming our way.

"No time to explain, but you'll meet her soon." I bent down, hefting one end of our spine board while Percy lifted the other end. "Whatever you do, don't let go," I warned before slipping into the darkness.

* * *

One thing I really hate about hospitals is their smell. I know that sanitation and sterility is crucial in a hospital, but really, was so much bleach really necessary? That and the fact that this hospital, St. Joseph's, had really sketchy lighting, well, let's just say I was praying that the doctors here were better than the infrastructure.

Another thing, while I respect and appreciate young nurses, they can turn in to a worried mess when they see someone with something as trivial as a scrape. By that I mean, the two nurses who'd seen us when Percy and I ran into the ER nearly had a cow when they saw the amount of debris and dust coating out clothing, asking us if we'd been in a fire. These must've been newbies, fresh out of nursing school, because I knew nurses who'd been on the job for over forty years and no longer batted an eye at something like a gunshot to the head.

After some Mist manipulating and persuasion, I managed to get the nurses off our cases, leaving the two of us to wait in the family room as Paul was whisked in for emergency brain surgery.

Percy was, understandably, a complete mess, pacing back and forth so much that I thought he was going to wear a trench into the multi-stained carpet. Of course, this agitated some of the other people in the waiting room, but one look from Percy quickly shut them up, clearly not wanting to incur his anger on themselves.

Meanwhile, I was reading _Catching Fire,_ patiently waiting for someone to come and give us an update.

Instead of an update, however, someone came in and handed me a clipboard with a stack of papers, telling me to fill out all of Paul's information for billing purposes. Thank God for insurance.

"Do you know this stuff?" I asked Percy when I got to the sections about previous illness and/or surgeries. Plus, it's not like I could fill out his phone number, email, or social security, because he had never given it out to me, and I seriously doubted he was going to any time soon.

"Nope," Percy answered, popping the 'p'. "Mom and Paul tell me I don't need to worry about this kind of stuff."

"They're right," I said, pinching the bridge of my nose in exasperation. "You're a kid. You don't need to worry about insurance."

Percy rolled his eyes. "You're not _that_ much older than me."

"Seven years older, to be exact."

"That doesn't mean anything."

Now it was my turn to roll my eyes. "To put that into perspective, I'm entering my junior year of college while you're just now starting the tenth grade."

"Never mind, you are that much older than me."

"Sorry, am I interrupting something?" I heard Raina say, a knowing smirk resting on her face as she tapped her pen against her thigh.

"It's great to see you again," I said, giving the younger girl a hug.

Even though she was a daughter of Hecate, Raina had told me that she always wanted to become a trauma surgeon after having her dad die because a hospital didn't have a trauma surgeon. And seeing that she started doing her own studying at a young age, at the age of twenty, she was already a surgical resident, having passed all her exams when she was nineteen.

"Ditto that. Now, would you like to know how Paul's doing?"

"Yes, please," Percy replied, violently nodding his head.

"Well, that was a pretty massive brain bleed that he had, and the neurosurgeon said that the dura had been cut as well." I winced. "But, after evacuating the bleed, he was able to sew the dura back together and is going to add a steel plate over the skull fracture since there isn't enough original bone to work with."

"What about his legs?" I asked. "When I got to the scene, it appeared like he'd been pinned under a bookshelf for some time."

Raina pulled out a little notebook from the pocket of her coat and flipped to the right page. "We were initially concerned about blood flow to the extremities, but after some blood transfusions, we knew that everything else was fine. He might have some bruises, though. And as for every other thing, he's perfectly fine."

"Thank the gods," Percy sighed, stumbling into an empty chair and slumping in it, full of relief. "How long do you think it'll take him to recover?"

"Typically the recovery time is anywhere between six to twelve weeks. But everyone's different, so I can't give you a set date."

"Thanks again for doing this, Raina. I can't thank you enough."

"Well, you could always thank me by dropping by for a drink and telling Jonathan to stop complaining about living in a house with only girls. He's old enough to get his own apartment if he wants to, for gods' sakes."

"Wait, what happened to Leo?"

Raina winced. "He ran away last month. One night I was helping him with his history homework, and the next morning, he'd taken everything of his. None of us know where he is, and believe me, I've tried tracking him down. I was hoping you'd heard something from him?"

I glanced down at my bracelets, glaring at the cloud charm, remembering how the Cyclops that had attacked me in Times Square might've had Leo's necklace. "No, he hasn't spoken to me as of late." I shook my head. "Go back to the OR, Raina. I'll find Leo soon."

"Good, because I want him to know that he'll always have a home with us." She pocketed her little notebook. "I'll be back in a few hours with another update."

True to her word, Raina came back four hours later, letting us know that Paul's surgery had been a success and that he was taken up to the ICU for recovery. Afterwards, Percy asked that Raina lead us directly to Paul's room, where we were met by the unconscious English teacher with a thick layer of bandages wrapping around his head.

"What could have caused this much damage?" Raina asked, moving around the room with perfect ease, jotting down notes on Paul's chart as she checked his vitals and medications.

I turned to Percy, waiting for an explanation. He'd been there when the attack happened, so maybe he saw something that could make sense of the disaster scene I witnessed at Goode High.

"I don't know, to be honest," Percy said, sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck. "There was this one guy who seemed to be made of pure fire, but he didn't find me, instead destroying all the other classrooms. I found Paul after he'd managed to set off all the fire alarms, which helped contribute to the panic. I guess kids saw his sword as a gun."

Raina and I shared a glance.

"Percy," she spoke softly. "Did this man have a sun anywhere on his armor? Was he about seven feet tall? Did his aura feel more primal when compared to that of a god?"

"Uh, I think there was a sun on his breastplate, but I'm not sure. He was way too bright to stare at for too long without suffering permanent blindness." Percy paused for a moment. "Imagine staring at Apollo except the light hurts your eyes more."

Raina inhaled sharply and turned to face me. "I know you told me things were bad, but I wasn't expecting this."

"None of us were," I said, nervously messing with my bracelet. "But it's clear that this was an attempt on Percy's life. I just can believe my father would send his brother like that in broad daylight with so many potential witnesses."

"Wait, so that was an assassination attempt?" Percy asked, his eyes wide. "And who was that, anyways? Didn't you-know-who have five other brothers? And it can't be the one my dad's fighting, so that only leaves four brothers left."

"It seems like the Titan of the East is out for your blood, Percy," Raina said. "Don't know what you did to piss him off-"

"Exist."

"-but you better do your best to stay safe. I've got to go, but if you need an extra hand in the fight to come, I'm only one call away."

"I'll keep that in mind," I told Raina, giving her one final hug before she left the room, presumably to work on other patients.

In the meantime, I had to keep Sally in the loop of what had happened to her son and husband as she was probably sick with worry. After all, this would definitely be aired on the news, so it was more of a matter of time before Sally found out.

Pulling out a drachma, I threw the gold coin into the rainbow that resulted from light streaming in from the room's window, watching as the image shimmered to life. "Sally Jackson, Manhattan," I requested, Sally's face appearing a few seconds later.

Needless to say, she was relieved when she saw that both Percy and Paul were alive, but still concerned over the fact that Paul was in a medically induced coma and there was no telling of when, or if, he'd wake up.

Maybe if I had better control over my chronokinesis, I could turn back the time on Paul's body to before the accident, but I'd never tried manipulating time on a single person like that before, and I definitely wasn't going to have Paul be my first guinea pig. Maybe I should use Octavian as a guinea pig and have Jason and Reyna give him to a family that will teach him kindness and respect.

Oh, well. A girl can dream.

Eventually we decided that I would bring Percy home ASAP while I watched over Paul until he recovered.

But before I forgot, I said, "Percy, do you still have that star charm I gave you?"

"Yeah," Percy said, beginning to run his finger across the chain that held the charm. "Why?"

"I need it for a second."

"What are you going to do with it?" he asked as he slipped the chain off his neck, gently tugging the star off and placing it in my hand.

"Make its enchantment stronger. Things are worse than I originally thought, and I don't want you getting hurt."

Finding the vial that Salina had used to enchant the stars with, I added five drops directly into the middle of the charm, muttering an incantation in the language of Chaos, just as she had taught me all those years ago. Once I was done, the charm was positively humming with newfound power.

I then threaded it back onto Percy's chain and watched as he slipped the necklace back on, the charms resting comfortably at the base of his throat, hidden behind the clay beads of his camp necklace.

"C'mon," I told him, having to lead him a little ways away from Paul, the guilt tearing him apart from the inside out. I had to remind him three different times that what happened was no one's fault but my father's and that he shouldn't blame himself for the damages done to his school. "We need to get you home before your mom grounds the both of us."

"And Paul? What about him?"

I placed my hands on his shoulders, forcing for him to face me. "You have my word that Raina will keep him safe. Plus, I'll be back here after dropping you off, so I'll keep you updated if anything changes."

I pulled him into a hug, rubbing soothing circles into his back. He sighed and hugged back, his breaths uneven as he suppressed his emotions.

"You'll be okay, squirt. As long as I'm alive, I'll always do my best to keep you safe."

Then I grabbed Percy's hand, and we faded into the shadows, the sound of steady beeping being the last thing we could hear.

* * *

 **Shout out to Horseyiscool for being such an amazing person! (And to answer your question, Chronos and Kronos can refer to the same person depending on which version of the myths you look at; in this case Kronos is a Titan and Chronos is a primordial).**

 **Thanks for reading! I love you all!**


	46. Chapter 46

Confession time: even though I had been hesitant about speeding up time for a singular person, after some practice with some weeds and cows, I sped up Paul's recovery process so that he was fully healed and functional within four days of his surgery.

"The doctors are _not_ going to like this," Raina had told me, making sure that the door was locked and that the blinds were closed, preventing anyone else from seeing in. "They'll turn him into a guinea pig for the rest of his life. Most people don't wake up for at least a week, and when they do, they don't function like this."

"The Mist," I said, keeping my voice low as Paul groaned in his bed, waking up from a nap. "Make it seem like he's still here for a few days, just until he's cleared to leave."

Raina reached into the pocket of her scrubs, pulling out three silver beads no bigger than a thimble. "You're so lucky I study the obscure stuff," she said as she positioned the beads on the bed. "Now go. I think Percy would like to get his stepfather back."

"Stay safe."

Then, before Paul was fully aware of what was happening, I shadow-traveled us back to Sally's apartment, abruptly landing on top of the couch in the living room. It didn't help matters that I cushioned Paul's fall, meaning that I got all the air knocked out of me. After Paul stood up, I got up to my feet, clutching my chest as I tried to breathe normally again.

Needless to say, both Percy and Sally were overjoyed at the sight of Paul, surprised to see him to in perfect health. I'd have to tell them of what I did eventually, but not right now.

Anyhow, after hanging out with the Blofis' and Percy for a little bit, I caught the train back to school, completely drained from all the shadow-traveling I'd done this past week. Seriously, not even the unicorn draught I had was enough to make me feel well-rested, every muscle aching like I'd just sprinted a marathon.

And, of course, my return to school was marked by all my friends continuing their begging for me to train them, to which my answer was still no.

"If you want to learn how to fight," I'd told them that night, my eyelids drooping with exhaustion as I forced myself to read the next chapter in our biology textbook, "go take a karate class or something."

Unsurprisingly, Pete reminded me that fighting bare handed wouldn't do any of them much good if they couldn't kill the monsters. I don't know how many times I had to tell them that as long as they didn't go searching, monsters would leave them alone for the most part. Even then, if things _really_ got bad, just run in the other direction. It's not that complicated.

This begging lasted for weeks, and around mid-April, I finally caved, tired of having to avoid my friends because they wouldn't stop pestering me otherwise. Do you know how annoying it is to have a twenty-two-year old man asking, "Please?" repeatedly anytime he was in your presence?

If it wasn't for the fact that I'd built up a tolerance to that kind of thing between the orphanage and camp, I promise you, I would've decked Pete in the face weeks ago.

"Meet me at Garden's Park at 10," I told them one night, watching the looks of shock on their faces, unable to believe what I was saying.

"But it's already 9:40," Patrick said with a frown, holding up his phone to show everyone else the time.

"Then consider this your first lesson: always be on time." I smiled, remembering that Salina had done the same thing to me one day. Clearly, the fear of discipline worked wonders on students. "I'll see you in twenty."

True to my word, I was waiting by the playground at 10, beginning to warm up while I waited for my friends to show up. They finally arrived five minutes later, the four out of the five of them completely out of breath from sprinting to make it here. Andy, on the other hand, was fine, having done CrossFit ever since he was in high school and running marathons every other month.

"Oh, God," Patrick muttered, his knuckles white as he clutched onto one of the ladders that led up to the slide. "I think I need my inhaler."

Leah fished it out of her pockets, and even though she was still red in the face, her breathing had straightened out enough for her to be able to hand Patrick his inhaler without wheezing too loudly.

"Just so we're clear," Pete said, still hunched over. "I haven't run that fast since I played soccer, and I quit freshman year of high school."

"Hopefully I'll help change that," I said, bending down as I stretched to one side. "We're not going to do anything too strenuous tonight, just some cardio. Sound good?"

"I thought you said you were going to train us?" Pete whined, his bottom lip out in a pout as he straightened up.

"I said I would, and you know I'm always true to my word. But I can't teach you anything if we don't start building up your endurance. So, with that being said, take five laps around the playground."

"Seriously?" Joe asked. "More running?"

"Running has saved my life more times than I'd like to admit, so get to it."

"Oh, stop complaining, you two," Leah said, grabbing Joe and Pete by the wrist and taking off with them while they screamed in protest.

Andy paused to make sure Patrick was okay before starting his own laps. I also checked on Patrick, telling him that he didn't need to sprint the five laps, only needing to complete them.

"There's a reason I opted out of PE," he grumbled. Then he sighed and began running, ignoring how Joe and Pete were screaming, "You can't catch us, Andy!" while circling the playground.

To this day, I still have no idea which one of us they were talking to.

It didn't take me long to catch up with Leah, the two of us falling into an easy conversation while we did our laps. And even though we weren't the first to finish (I don't like sprinting if I don't have to), alongside Andy, we were the least out of breath, which would be helpful for what I had planned next.

I hope they liked jump roping.

And so began our training, which would usually last two hours every night that we could spare, lasting until the end of the school year. Like Salina had done with me, I made my friends practice with almost every type of weapon under the sun, not stopping until I knew they'd found their perfect fit.

Leah ended up with a bow, Pete with a sword, Joe with an axe, Andy with dual-wielding daggers, and Patrick, sweet, innocent Patrick, ended up with a spear that had barbed wire coating on the end of it.

By the way, I feel like I need to mention that I did not steal these weapons from the Camp Half-Blood or Camp Jupiter armory, instead finding them in the Fields of Asphodel. I don't know how those weapons ended up there – the metal detectors were usually pretty good about confiscating Celestial bronze and Imperial gold at the entrance – but they weren't going to be used by anyone, so I gave them to my friends instead.

I hope Hades doesn't mind.

"Remember," I told them the last night of our training, "these weapons won't hurt other mortals, but it can hurt monsters and demigods. Please, don't use them unless absolutely necessary."

"Does that mean we can't kill a Cyclops if we see them in the street?"

I rolled my eyes. "No, Pete, you can't just go around stabbing Cyclopes if you see them."

"Party pooper."

We huddled together in a group hug, ignoring the fact that we all reeked and were coated in sweat from that night's exercises.

"Stay safe, you guys," I told them. "And please, for the love of Olympus, stay out of New York this August. Don't come back until September."

"What, why?" Leah asked. She redid her ponytail, pulling her hair into a messy bun so that none of her hair was touching the back of her neck. "You can't tell us to stay safe and then say to not come back to New York. What about school?"

"School starts in September," Joe said, "after Andy said it would be safe to come back."

"But don't you want to know _why_ we shouldn't be here during the summer?"

"It's only August, though, the hottest month of the year."

Leah scoffed. "You boys need to come to Florida sometime. That'll show you some real heat." She turned to me, her dark brown eyes staring into my soul. "Spill."

"I can't," I said miserably, turning away from her and the rest of my friends. "Just know something evil is coming, and I don't want you guys caught in the middle of this mess."

"That gives us more of a reason to stay," Patrick said, pressing a button on the end of his spear, gasping as it collapsed into a wrist watch and landed on the floor. He bent down and put it on. "If things are as dire as it sounds, don't you need more help to fight?"

"No, this isn't your fight," I insisted. "And you haven't had enough training. Please, don't be here this summer. I can't bear to lose any of you, not after…"

Images of Cleo's death slammed into the forefront of my mind at full force, the smell and feeling of her blood invading all my senses. I still remembered her startlingly sky blue eyes, a perfect match to Apollo's, usually so full of life and joy dull and lifeless as I pressed a hand over the gaping hole in her chest, praying that someone would save her.

"No," I told myself, gripping my hair tightly in an attempt to steady myself. "This isn't real. You're safe."

But I could hear her screams, hear Michael's cry of anguish as he watched two of his siblings die in tandem, hear my own voice as I killed those dracaenae with a vengeance I didn't think was humanly possible.

And Cleo was a demigod, training ever since she was five to fight monsters, but she still died anyways. If someone with eleven years of training died, imagine how someone who'd only had two months would fare.

After judo-flipping Pete – he'd put a hand on my shoulder, and I'd instinctively reacted to it as a threat – I snapped out of my flashback, watching as Pete held his hands up in surrender as my hand was already preparing to knock him out.

I caught myself mid-punch and quickly scrambled off of Pete, hoping that I wasn't as visibly shaken up as I felt.

"You're not fighting in this war," I told them again in a steely voice, so unlike the panic I was dealing with at the moment. "I need you guys to stay alive, you hear me? You want to give sacrifices to the gods to help strengthen them? Fine, that's fine, but I don't want any of you in New York when the final battle begins."

"Can you at least tell us who's wanting to cause the apocalypse?" Joe asked, groaning as he slowly got onto the ground and flopped onto his back, still breathing heavily.

"My father," I spat venomously before turning on my heel and walking away before any more questions could be asked.

* * *

I left for Los Angeles the day after school ended, actually taking a plane like a normal person instead of jumping through shadows or riding a pegasus like I'd usually do.

It was weird, being confined inside a metal cylinder 30,000 feet in the air, but there was a TV and decent snacks, so I wasn't too miserable. I don't think the guy who'd sat next to me was my biggest fan, though. I guess he wasn't a fan of charm bracelets.

Once I left the airport, immediately engulfed with California's intense heat the second I walked out onto the sidewalk, I made my way to the DOA Recording Studios via taxi. The poor driver must've thought I was some kind of lunatic or criminal after I asked him to stop, claiming that he didn't understand why we were stopping in front of some abandoned warehouse. The Mist, no doubt.

But he quickly shut up after I slipped in another fifty bucks and sped off, leaving me with the promise that he'd keep his mouth shut.

"Welcome back, Miss I-serve-Olympus-and-have-more-respect-from-Hades-than-Charon-does," Charon said, tipping his sunglasses down just enough so I could see the bottomless pits that were his eyes. "How can I help you today, Princess?"

I flinched at the name, something that either Charon missed or decided to ignore.

"I would like passage to the Underworld," I said, planting three gold drachmas onto the ferryman's podium, daring him to deny me entry.

He picked up one of the drachmas, inspecting it, before placing them into the little box I knew he had underneath the podium. "You know," Charon said as he dusted something off his new Italian suit, "you're one of the only people I've ever met who _want_ to go to the Underworld. Why don't you go spend more time on Olympus? I hear it's lovely this time of year."

"Already spent five years of my life on Olympus," I replied, shuffling past Charon as the elevator doors creaked open and spirits rushed to get inside. "Plus, I've got some friends on the other side."

"Oh, do we now?" Charon then whirled around, shoving a few souls out of the elevator, shouting, "No one better change my music!" as the doors squeaked shut. If it wasn't for the fact that I knew this was merely a transition from elevator to a boat on the Styx, I would've never taken this entrance, but I really wasn't in the mood to feel drained, so creepy entrance it is.

"Mention a pay raise to the boss, would ya?" Charon laughed as we reached the other side of the River Styx, the dead disembarking as they began to shuffle their way towards the E-Z Death lines.

"Sure, Charon. And for the love of God, stop threatening souls about your music. They've been listening to the same thing for thousands of years."

"Hey, none of 'em are complaining." He shrugged. "Plus, I don't care. See ya around, Princess!"

"Don't call me that," I muttered under my breath, shouldering my backpack as I skipped through the lines, the security guards having seen me around so much that they no longer bothered trying to stop me.

Though my intention had been to visit Nico, who hadn't come back to Camp Half-Blood ever since the end of last summer, and Hades, before I made it to the palace, I stopped in front of the endless field that was Asphodel. Somewhere amongst the spirits was Hazel Levesque, whom I hadn't seen in over a year by now.

Feeling guilty about not having visited my friend, I started my journey into Asphodel, eventually having to shove in my earbuds to ignore the sound of hissing spirits as they dissipated from being in close proximity to living flesh.

It took a good hour and a half and some magic before I found Hazel, who was still sitting by the same poplar tree where we'd met for the first time. She was picking at the red poppy flowers, the only splash of color that could be found outside of Elysium and Hades' Palace in the Underworld.

Hazel then looked up, a gentle smile resting easily on her face as she stood up, brushing back some of her curls out of her face. "Hello, Andy," she said. "It's nice to see you again."

I couldn't help but smile back at Hazel. "Sorry I haven't been back sooner. Things are getting more and more chaotic, you know?"

She nodded solemnly, gesturing for me to follow her to the poplar tree. "Something's definitely amiss. I can feel these souls getting restless." Hazel then carefully pried off a piece of bark from the tree, revealing a little hole in the trunk. She then pulled out two leather necklaces, numerous clay beads resting in the middle.

"I don't know how these got here," she said, dropping the necklaces into my hands, "but they looked like yours, so I held onto them for safekeeping."

"Oh, gods."

I twirled the beads between my fingers, seeing the same beads that were currently resting around my neck staring back up at me from two necklaces. And from the way that the beads that held a green trident, the summer that Percy had been claimed, were completely damaged and carved up, I knew exactly who they belonged to.

"Thank you, Hazel," I said, shoving the necklaces deep into my bag. "But I'm afraid this is proof of how bad things are getting. You haven't seen anyone suspicious around here, have you?"

Hazel bit her lip as she thought before finally saying, "I think I have. There's this boy that spends a lot of time down here, especially around the banks of the Styx."

I swore violently under my breath, which caused Hazel to blush. "What does this boy look like? Is he usually by himself?"

"I haven't seen much of him, but when I do, he's always alone. He's this scrawny thing, paler than a bleached poplar tree and in desperate need of a sandwich. He wears a lot of black, almost as much as Pluto, and has a sword dark as a nightmare."

My pulse soared almost instantaneously, my heartbeat pounding like a drum in my ears. She'd seen Nico! Had that happened before? Did this mean that Kyle hadn't bathed in the Styx yet?

Though Hazel was a spirit, therefore making it impossible for her to touch anything living, I somehow managed to clamp my hands around her wrists, shocking her and me both. Still, with urgency flooding my voice, I warned, "Listen to me, you can't tell anyone about what you've seen until I say so."

Hazel's gold eyes were wide with panic. "Is that boy evil? Does he work for your father?"

"No, far from it," I said, releasing Hazel's wrists and sighing exasperatedly. "He's a good friend of mine, one who I told to be careful about wandering around the Underworld by himself. He's too young to be surrounded by so much death," – I stopped, looking at Hazel – "just like you."

"Who is he?" Hazel asked, curiosity having replaced her fear. "How are the Furies not trying to tear him apart right now? Why hasn't Cerberus eaten him?"

Although I knew that Nico hadn't met Hazel until technically a couple months from now, I figured it wouldn't do the timeline any harm if I revealed this bit of information to Hazel. I mean, she'd be brought back to life within the next few months anyways.

"That boy is Nico di Angelo. He's a friend of mine and works very closely with Lord Pluto, so you'll see him running around the Underworld pretty frequently."

"Did the Olympians train him as well?" she asked curiously, seeming to relax now that she knew he wasn't a threat.

I winced. "Not exactly." Before I could answer anything else, an explosion shook Hades' palace, causing the both of us to cringe. Even from the middle of Asphodel, I could hear the screaming echo off the obsidian walls.

"I should probably go check that out," I said, watching as the three Furies zipped across the sky, entering the palace through the windows. "We'll see each other soon, Hazel." I waved goodbye and vanished into the shadows, landing in the middle of Persephone's garden.

Persephone's garden was nothing like the ones of the mortal world, filled with exotic flowers that would die immediately if so much as a ray of sun touched one of the petals. The goddess of spring also had her fair share of fruit trees, most notably the pomegranates, which were in full bloom despite their growing season not starting until October.

I found the couple standing in front of one of Persephone's fountains, which spewed precious gems instead of water. Though there was little light in the Underworld, there was still enough to make the gems shine like a disco ball, casting a glow of different colors onto the black-clad inhabitants of the Underworld.

"You know how I feel about that boy," Persephone said, absentmindedly picking at the petunias blooming on her dress. "He was asking for it."

Hades' eye twitched. "While I agree he was being much too demanding, was it really necessary to turn him into a dandelion?"

Persephone shrugged and bent down, her fingers gently caressing the white tufts on the head of the plant. "He's much better this way, don't you think?"

"Did you turn Nico into a dandelion again?" I asked, making my presence known to the two gods. Hades pinched the bridge of his nose in exasperation while Persephone scowled, the rose in her hair wilting in response.

"Hello, Andy," Hades said, his voice tight. "I wasn't expecting a visit from you for a while."

"I sent you an Iris-message a week ago. Remember?"

"Right, yes, I completely remember."

Persephone rolled her eyes. "I'm lucky if he remembers when my mother shows up, let alone someone who comes and goes as she pleases." She stood up, careful to not hurt the dandelion by her foot. "But now that you're here, I assume you want something from us. That's how this is supposed to work, right?"

"Uh, not really," I replied, rubbing the back of my neck sheepishly. "I came to help with security. Word is that some spirits are growing restless, joining with forces much darker than our father, so if I can help keep them in check, it'll be better for all demigods in the long run."

"Darker forces?" Hades asked. "What could possibly be darker than…oh."

I grimaced. "Yeah, she's waking up. History tends to repeat itself and all that nonsense, you know?"

"Sadly, I do." The Lord of the Dead heaved a weary sigh, his eyes focused on the dandelion that had once been his son. "Go on, then," he said, waving me off. "I'll make sure Nico is human the next time you stop to visit."

"And be nicer to him," I said, giving Hades a pointed look. "I know you prefer Bianca, but she's doing her own things with the Hunters right now. At least try to have one good relationship between your children. Trust me, it'll help in the long run."

I then waved goodbye and marched out of the palace, heading to the Fields of Punishment to go deal with the malicious spirits that would sooner rather than later make their appearance in the mortal world.


	47. Chapter 47

I paced back and forth in my cabin, nervously chewing on my bottom lip after having woken up from a nightmare. Of course, Morpheus being the worst god of sleep in existence, showed me Kyle and Holly again last night, the duo locked in what appeared to be a training session.

As I'd feared, Kyle, who I guess I should really refer to as Kronos from now on, was wielding his scythe, a cruel smile resting on his face when the tip of the blade grazed Holly's thigh, causing her to scream and immediately collapse, blood streaming from the wound.

"Pity," Kyle (Kronos) said, seeming particularly indifferent about having hurt his girlfriend. "I recalled you to be a better fighter, daughter of Ares. Perhaps I was mistaken."

Holly grit her teeth and stood up, her sword having never fallen out of her hand. "Well unlike some of us, I don't have unlimited strength or the power to control time. But that doesn't make me any less competent of a fighter." She pressed her other hand flat against the wound, not even flinching as she applied pressure. "Trust me," she continued, "I'll be ready to take down that witch when the time comes."

Kronos's face hardened. "You will do no such thing, girl. I've already made plans for that traitorous daughter of mine. She will suffer alongside all her other siblings, spending the rest of her pathetic immortal life within the confines of that hellish pit."

"Immortal?" Holly asked. "Isn't she a demigod…err, demititan?"

"Yes and no." Kronos set his scythe down onto the weapons rack. "Although she was born of a mortal woman, she possess all of my powers and then some. If she so wished, she could alter her age for the rest of her life." Then Kronos turned to face me, a malicious glint in those blood chilling, golden eyes of his. "Isn't that lovely, darling? See how merciful I am, giving you eternal life? Enjoy eternity in endless suffering as I have!"

That's when I woke up, bringing you up to date. Anyhow, I was currently dressed in running shorts and a ratty, old t-shirt, waiting for James to pick me up. Percy was waiting for a lift, but I couldn't go anywhere without confirming my plan with James first. "I know the risks," he'd told me, "and I'm willing to accept them. So quit your worrying, and let's get to work."

Once James showed up, wearing an oiled stained Camp Half-Blood shirt and polka dotted swim trunks, I mist-traveled to Percy's apartment and brought him back to camp.

The three of us then jogged down to the beach, the large boat replica already floating in the water courtesy of James and the rest of the Hephaestus cabin. Beckendorf was also there, wielding goggles hanging limply around his neck, acknowledging his older brother's presence with a nod.

Beckendorf then handed us each of us a sack of gag grenades, three rolls of duct tape, and a map. "The goal is to get in and out as fast as possible and without being noticed. Let's try for five minutes for our first go."

"Uh, time isn't an issue for me," I commented.

"Well, good for you." Beckendorf turned to the others. "Five minutes, guys. Good luck." He then started his stop watch, and the three of us raced to the end of the dock, hopping onto the deck and going our separate ways.

According to the plan we'd made earlier, Percy and James would target the engine room while my job was to take out as many monsters as possible. I planted bombs at structural points on the boat, bobbing and weaving through the automatons that Beckendorf had added onto the boat, evading capture as I ripped tape off with my teeth and stuck things to the walls.

By the time I hit all my targeted areas, I mist-traveled back onto the dock, waiting for Percy and James to come back. For our first attempt, we agreed that we were going to try to do this without relying too heavily on the other, but in reality, we knew that it was my responsibility to meet up with the others if I finished first.

And so for the last few weeks of July and the beginning of August, the three of us practice under little to no time with different conditions. One time, Beckendorf had managed to get the rest of the Hephaestus kids and a mixture of Hermes, Apollo, and Athena kids to be on board, therefore providing us actual opponents other than Celestial bronze automatons.

However, after practices and training, Percy would always ask me to take him back home, where he'd go hang out with Rachel. Needless to say, when I'd return to camp, I'd get my ear chewed off by Annabeth as she complained about Percy running away from his training.

"We both know the prophecy," I reminded Annabeth. "Let him enjoy himself for as much time as possible."

That shut her up pretty quickly.

As for my other friends, Luke and Will, they began throwing themselves into their responsibilities – Luke making warriors out of as many demigods as possible while Will made it his mission to teach all his siblings everything he knew about field medicine. I bounced between the two of them, but I usually ended up training one-on-one with Clarisse, as she was unafraid of being as ruthless as possible.

August 11th came too quickly for my liking. James and I suited up a little after five, checking that we had everything we needed. "Just in case," Beckendorf had said, handing each of us bolt cutters before we left, mounting our pegasi.

 _Where we going, boss?_ Blackjack asked as James got on his back while I mounted Star.

"To find Percy. It's time."

Then the two of us took off into the sky.

* * *

We found Percy driving in Paul's Prius on the closed road next to the beach. While I got Star to land next to the stopped car, Blackjack thought it would be funny to land on the hood of the Prius, causing both Percy and Rachel, who had also been in the car, to grimace at the dent that would be there.

 _Hey, boss_ Blackjack said. _Nice car!_

"Blackjack," Percy sighed. "What are you-?"

Then Percy looked up at Blackjack's rider and swallowed, noticing James and me. Star walked up to the passenger side of the car, allowing for Rachel to pet her mane as Percy asked, "Time?" his face paler than freshly fallen snow.

I responded with a nod before tugging on my heart charm, allowing for my armor to coat my body. James readjusted his own breastplate, his fingers nervously drumming on the war helm dangling from a cord on his belt.

Rachel looked up at the two of us. "Hi."

"Oh, hey," James began. "You must be Rachel. Percy's told me…uh, I mean he mentioned you."

I stifled a snort. "Way to keep things under wraps."

"Don't you start with me," James groaned, a blush dusting his face.

Rachel raised an eyebrow. "Has he? Good." She glanced back at Blackjack, who was clopping his hooves against the hood of the Prius. "So I guess you guys have to go save the world now."

"Pretty much," I agreed.

Percy turned to Rachel. "Would you tell my mom-?"

"I'll tell her. I'm sure she's used to it. And I'll explain to Paul about the hood."

He nodded his thanks, but before he could get out of the car, Rachel said, "Good luck," and kissed Percy before he could react. "Now, get going half-blood. Go kill some monsters for me."

In an extremely dazed like state, Percy hopped onto Blackjack's back before he and Star took off into the sky once again, the Prius fading away into a dark splotch in the distance. Now that we were away from Rachel, I allowed myself to laugh a little at how awkward that interaction had been, earning me a half-hearted glare from Percy.

"So," James said, "I'm guessing you don't want me to mention that little scene to Annabeth."

"Oh, gods," he muttered. "Don't even think about it."

James and I laughed as we flew out further over the Atlantic in search of the worst cruise ship in existence.

We didn't find the _Princess Andromeda_ until after the sun had set, the lights from the boat illuminating its silhouette in the early evening haze. Even from about thirty feet above, I could see the huge horde of monsters milling around on the deck, their weapons gleaming dangerously from their waists.

"Land there," I told the pegasi, pointing to the lowest deck of the ship, which was devoid of all monsters.

Like comets, we plummeted past the flashing lights and the monsters, coming to an abrupt stop on the deck.

 _Ugh,_ Star said as she looked around. _I can see why you hated this place so much, Blackjack._

 _No kidding,_ Blackjack whinnied in reply, lowering himself so that James and Percy could disembark.

"Don't wait for us," Percy told the pegasi, causing them to skitter nervously.

 _But, boss-_

"Trust me," he said. "We'll get out by ourselves."

 _Then good luck, boss. Don't let 'em turn you into horse meat!_

 _Stay safe, mistress!_ Star said, nuzzling her nose against my hand for a brief moment. Then the two pegasi took off, disappearing into the rapidly darkening night.

Percy and I didn't hesitate to draw our swords while James hefted his own bag of explosives, reaching for a picture in his pocket. I knew he was looking at the picture of him with his girlfriend and mother at Thanksgiving, the both of them beaming from merely being in his presence. As far as I knew, James had shown me the ring he'd planned to give Lucy, his girlfriend, after this whole ordeal was over.

"We'll make it back to camp," Percy promised.

I hid my grimace, remembering the day that James's name had appeared on my list. Instead of Beckendorf dying tonight, I was going to lose another one of my longtime friends.

I saw the worry in James' eyes, but instead of showing Percy the truth, he wore his usual confident smile. "You bet," he said. "Let's go blow Kro-" – he cut himself off at my glare – "err, the king back into a million pieces."

"Meet at the helipad once all the bombs are in place," I said. "And if anything goes wrong-"

"I know," Percy interrupted, his fingers ghosting over the charms I gave him all those years ago. "I'll call you."

I pulled both boys in for a quick hug. "Stay safe. I'll see you soon."

With that, I slung my own bag of explosives over my shoulder like Santa Claus and mist-traveled away.

* * *

Let me say for the record that running around on a monster-infested boat isn't fun, especially when you're being threatened every other second. In the fifteen minutes that I'd already been here, I managed to set my bombs throughout the four lower decks, all of them on critical structural points that promised maximum damage when detonated.

As I finished tapping my first bomb on the fifth floor, the alarm began blaring, causing me to curse under my breath. Before the hallway could flood with monsters, I ducked into the first bathroom I saw, quickly disposing of the monsters inside before hiding in the stall furthest from the door.

 _Percy, what's going on?_ I asked, deciding to use to check in on the duo before I left this safe spot.

 _Mr. Crabby's trying to kill me, can't talk right now!_

Moments later, I heard heavy footsteps from the floor above heading towards the southern end of the ship. And judging from how quickly the sound disappeared, the crab after Percy was running.

As I found the stairs to the sixth floor, I slapped a few more vials of Greek fire onto the walls, concealing them behind paintings and plants and the like. And like I expected, I was instantly greeted with an overwhelming number of monsters as I burst onto the sixth floor, killing about a dozen within the first three seconds of being on the floor.

"There's another one!" a telkhine hissed, lunging forward with his brethren, only to be cut down.

"Fun," I muttered as I allowed myself to catch fire, becoming a vortex of flames as I shoved my way to the nearest staircase, slaying monsters left and right. But despite how many monsters I was taking out right now, I knew my father had much more than what was on this cursed ship and that we'd face much worse before the end of the week.

After another five minutes of fighting my way to the top deck, I found myself on the main deck. Off the port bow, the sky was darkening from purple to black. A swimming pool glowed between two glass towers with more balconies and restaurant decks. The whole upper ship seemed eerily deserted compared to the lower decks.

On the other side of the deck, down a flight of stairs, was the helipad, where I was supposed to meet the boys in the next few minutes if they could evade capture. But seeing that Percy was already half way across the deck before freezing, turning to the balcony above him, where I knew Kyle and Holly were standing, I knew that we were so screwed.

"You're late, Percy," my father said, his voice booming across the silent deck. "We've been expecting you for days, you see. Come bow before me."

"Yeah," Percy snorted, "like that'll happen."

I had enough time to whirl around and slit the throat of a Laistrygonian giant that had tried to apprehend me before ducking behind a large column, watching as the rest of my father's trap unfurled.

Other Laistrygonian giants filed in on either side of the swimming pool, clearly waiting for my father's cue. Each was eight feet tall with tattooed arms, leather armor, and spike clubs. Demigod archers appeared on the roof above Kyle. Two hellhounds leaped down from the opposite balcony and snarled at Percy. Within seconds, Percy had been surrounded.

"Oh, hell no," I swore, exchanging my sword in favor of my bow. I didn't know how much longer I had before Kronos realized I was here as well, so I nocked four arrows and aimed at the Laistrygonians on the one side of the pool before repeating this again for the other side.

As the giants erupted into gold dust, I saw as Kyle turned in my direction, sneering at the column I'd been hiding behind.

"Welcome, daughter dearest. Did you really believe I was ignorant of your presence on my ship?"

I shrugged as I came out of my hiding place, slinging my bow over my shoulder and summoning my hunting knives. "Nah, but I figured I could try to hide long enough to cause some damage."

His lips twitched. "How amusing. Am I to understand that you are a part of this mission that Perseus Jackson is a part of? You're following a mere child to your death, daughter! You bring shame upon our family."

"Eh, don't care about what you think about me, douchebag." Without batting an eye, I cut off the paw of one of the hellhounds before stabbing my other knife deep into its neck. I yanked my knives back to my side, wiping the black blood off on my jeans as the hellhound whimpered and exploded into dust. "And to answer your question, I would follow Percy to the ends of the Earth if he asked me to. This is merely the beginning."

Kyle raised an eyebrow at Percy. "You allow for a woman to speak on your behalf, Jackson?" He shook his head in disappointment. "How pitiful, but the time for speaking is over. Come forward, if you dare."

"Percy, don't-" I tried to warn before being cut off by Kronos.

"Hush, you insufferable girl! Let him make his own decision."

Percy took a step forward, and the monsters parted like the Red Sea. He walked nervously, as if he expected to be stabbed in the back (which was a completely legitimate fear) and climbed the stairs, summoning Riptide to his hand.

I mist-traveled onto the balcony, standing at the forefront of the crowd that was beginning to cheer for Kronos. For some reason, none of them tried to touch me, but that didn't mean I relaxed. One wrong move and they'd stab me in the back faster than I could say, "Ow."

My father's weapon appeared in his hands – a six-foot long scythe, half Celestial bronze, half mortal steel. To this day, I still wondered who had been sacrificed to forge such an unnatural blade.

Then Percy charged, causing my father to laugh as a golden glow began encasing Percy. His swing was slower than a sloth's walking speed, but before Kronos could hurt Percy, the boat lurched sideways and all the water from the pool leapt up to completely douse the balcony.

Since I'd been expecting that, I'd been holding onto one of the ropes that used to hold a banner over the balcony, smirking as monsters cried out in surprise as they were thrown off balance.

The salt water had been enough for Percy to break out of the time spell, but he was still too slow in comparison to my father. I tried to speed Percy up, but once I felt like I was trying to lift a car by myself, I knew that the Fates were preventing my interference of this battle. Damn them.

I had to look away when I saw the cut open on Percy's arm, my friend stumbling back and lunging forward with Riptide in his left hand. He'd got in a nasty hit on Kyle's stomach, but Riptide merely bounced off like the sword was made of rubber instead of bronze and was thrown out of Percy's grasp.

Kronos laughed. "A poor performance, Percy Jackson. Kyle tells me you were never his match at swordplay."

Percy swayed on his feet. "Kyle had a big head," he said. "But at least it was _his_ head."

"A shame to kill you now," Kronos mused, "before the final plans unfolds. I would love to see the terror in your eyes when you realize how I will destroy Olympus."

"You'll never have the chance," I seethed, hating the fact that the Fates seemed to place a barrier between me and my father. "You'll never destroy Olympus, not as long as I am breathing."

"Then we'll just have to change that, won't we?" Kronos turned to Holly, who had been watching the fight from afar. "Show my daughter what we do to those who defy us."

"You coward," I snarled, pulling my helm down as the monsters parted for the two girls to approach me. "Having others fight your battles for you. No wonder Kyle was so hesitant to host you."

"It is a great honor to host the Titan Lord!" Holly exclaimed, lunging forward with her sword.

"I won't fight you," I decided, waving my hand over her, freezing her in place. I then slammed the hilts of my knives against her temples, watching her eyes roll back into her head before allowing her to collapse onto the floor.

"You'll never get this boat to Manhattan," Percy continued, gripping his right arm, trying not to pass out.

"And why would that be?" Kronos asked, his gold eyes glittering with sadistic glee at the sight of Holly unconscious at my hand. "Perhaps you are counting on your friend with the explosives?"

He looked down at the pool and called, "Nakamura!"

A teenage guy in full Greek armor pushed through the crowd. His left eye was covered with a black patch. And though I'd never met this boy before, I knew exactly who he was: Ethan Nakamura, son of Nemesis. Despite Percy having saved his life in the Labyrinth, he pledged his loyalty to Kronos anyways.

"Success, my lord," Ethan called. "We found him just as we were told."

He clapped his hands, and two giants lumbered forward, dragging James Turner between them. I felt my heart lurch in my chest. James had a swollen eye and his shirt was nearly torn off.

I tried to move forward, but I was glued to this spot on the deck.

 _Please,_ I pleaded with the Fates. _Don't make me have to face Lucy by myself. I don't want to lose another friend._

 _It must be done, girl,_ I heard the Fates speak in unison. _Just close your eyes, and it'll all be over._

 _Promise?_

 _We promise. You needn't see your friend suffer any more than necessary._

I closed my eyes and felt myself get thrown off the ship, falling from the top deck until I crashed into the ocean, the currents taking me as far away as fast as they could. Once I was in the water, I opened my eyes, watching as Greek fire consumed the ship, the explosion so loud that I thought I'd blown out my eardrums.

"James!" I screamed, tears streaming down my face as I reached towards the light, knowing that what was done was done. "JAMES!"

Then, out of the corner of my eye, I saw Percy plummeting like an anchor to the bottom of the sea, completely unconscious from everything that had happened while on the _Princess Andromeda._

Though my vision was still blurry from my tears, I propelled myself downward, catching Percy before he fell into a trench. I swam him back up to the sea bed and took care of his injuries before the salt water caused him to heal improperly, especially since there was an arrow sticking out of the back of his calf.

After I removed the arrow and bandaged both wounds on his arm and leg, I called for Rainbow, who showed up within five minutes after I'd called him.

 _What happened?_ Rainbow asked, nudging Percy's arm with his muzzle.

"We just escaped an explosion that killed our friend," I said, choking on my own words. "Could you please take Percy to Poseidon's palace? He'll understand."

 _Of course, mistress. And for what it's worth, I'm so sorry for your loss._

"Thank you, Rainbow."

Once I was sure Percy wasn't going to fall off Rainbow's back, I sent the two on their way. In the meantime, I swam back to the site of the explosion, determined to kill every last monster that didn't blow up from our attack.

It took me four more hours to make sure anything that had escaped the _Princess Andromeda_ was truly gone. As for the enemy demigods who hadn't died in the explosion and didn't escape with Kronos, I sent them straight to the prison Athena and I had set up for this very reason. Psyche and Hebe would take care of them until further notice, which I was so very grateful for.

Even after I was positive that the monsters were gone, I swam around the wreckage, hoping against hope that I would find some part of James. And despite never finding his body, not even after the sun had come up and illuminated the water, I did find two things that had belonged to my friend.

I found James's dog tags, the ones that he had gotten from his favorite uncle after he'd died in Iraq, and on the chain that contained the dog tags was the ring that he had planned to give to Lucy Greendale, daughter of Demeter.

God, she was going to be absolutely devastated.

Before returning to Camp Half-Blood, I found Percy in Long Island Sound, his face unable to hide the grief and guilt he felt. He was sitting by a large boulder, his head buried in his hands as he ordered all sea life to stay away from him.

I took a seat next to him, wrapping an arm over his shoulders.

"Oh, gods, Andy," Percy muttered, burying his face into my shoulder, wrapping his arms tightly around my waist. "I killed him. James is dead because of me."

"Don't say that," I said, running my hand through his unruly hair, knowing that the action typically soothed him. "What happened to James isn't anyone's fault but my father's. Don't blame yourself."

"I should've been faster."

I shook my head. "That wouldn't have changed the outcome, Percy. Trust me, I know." I sighed deeply. "But if it makes you feel any better, he's in Elysium with his uncle, and he's at peace with what happened."

Percy looked up at me, his eyes shining with unshed tears. "How do you know that?"

"Hades is my brother, remember?" I said with a weak smile. "He tells me everything about where demigods end up once they die. That's how I know James is happy and that he wouldn't want us to mourn him for too long."

He nodded, seeming to feel a little better about James's death. Then he paled again. "Lucy's going to kill us when she finds out."

"I'll handle her," I promised. "Come on, we have some news we need to share. And if I'm not mistaken, it's finally time for you to hear the prophecy."

"Does news really travel that quickly?" Percy asked, sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck.

"Nah, Poseidon told me. Also my brother, remember?"

"You know, it's kind of weird to think that you're technically my aunt."

I shuddered. "Don't think too hard about who you're related to on the godly side, or else you'll go insane. Trust me on that."

And with that, the both of us swam to the surface, walking onto the beach within Camp Half-Blood's borders.


	48. Chapter 48

If you want to be popular at Camp Half-Blood, don't return from a mission with bad news. God knows I've learned that fact over the years, but I could tell from Percy's face as we walked out of the water, he was just now learning the veracity in that statement.

That afternoon, Connor Stoll had been on guard duty, and apparently he got so excited that he fell out of his tree. Then, without missing a beat, he blew the conch shell, signaling to the rest of the camp that we'd come back. While the sound of running campers filled the air, Connor was the first to approach us, his infamous smile resting easily on his face.

I kept my hand against my bracelet, no longer trusting either of the Stoll brothers after the time they'd somehow pried my most prized possession off my body. Needless to say, I got them back for stealing my bracelet and have an oath on the Styx from the two of them that they would never take my bracelet again.

Still, both Connor and Travis were so jovial and shared a crooked sense of humor that usually had people laughing that it was hard to believe that their brother was Kyle.

"Percy! Andy!" he yelled. "What happened? Where's James?"

Our faces told the whole story. Connor no longer seemed so happy to see us, his smile melting. "Oh, no. Poor Lucy. Holy Zeus, when she finds out…"

As we walked over the sand dunes and toward the dining pavilion, where we were supposed to debrief in front of the entire camp, I felt a sharp pressure behind my eyes, causing me to stumble.

"Andy, are you okay?" Percy asked, helping keep me upright. "Did you get hurt?"

The pressure got so intense that I couldn't respond. I fell to the ground, clutching at my head and writhing in pain. It felt as if someone had set my head in a vice covered in spikes.

"Go get Will!" I heard Percy tell Connor.

"What do you want?" I asked, watching as the three Fates stepped out from behind a few trees.

"Who are you talking to?"

"Tell me!" I shouted at the Fates, ignoring Percy's question. "I can't be doing this every time you need to talk to me. So I'll ask you this one more time. _What do you want with me?"_

The three sisters held a silent conversation with their eyes before Clotho stepped forward, a piece of parchment in her hand. She set the parchment onto the ground beside me, saying, "Here are the instructions about how you are to proceed until further notice. Oh, and I think now would be a good time to tell everyone the truth about your father before you're thought to be a traitor by your fellow demigods."

"You couldn't have told me this in a dream?" I asked bitterly.

Atropos and Lachesis shrugged. "This was more convenient."

"For you guys." I sighed, wincing as I pressed my palms against my temples. "Could you please leave? I feel like my head is going to explode."

"The girl is right, sisters," Clotho said. "We have stayed for too long. Goodbye, Andromeda, and heed our warnings."

The second that the Fates disappeared, the intense pressure vanished as well, eliciting a sigh of relief from me. Though I still had a dull ache behind my temples, it was nothing like the pain I felt whenever immortals thought it was okay for them to hijack my mind as a location to talk.

That's why dreams existed!

Oh well, sometimes they never learn.

I realized that Will was shining a light in my eyes as I blinked, pushing the flashlight away. "I'm fine," I muttered, getting onto my feet while brushing off the sand from my clothes.

"Then what just happened?" he asked, placing his hands on his hips. "Why did it appear to Connor and Percy that you were having a seizure?"

"A seizure?" I turned to Connor and Percy. "Remind me to take you both to a basic first aid class one day. Will, the Fates just hijacked my mind again. You know that I'm fine the moment that they disappear."

Will narrowed his eyes at me. "You promise that's what happened?"

I rolled my eyes. "Have I ever lied to you about when the Fates showed up?"

"…No."

"And the streak continues," I said, ruffling his hair, much to his annoyance. "But I have to run an errand for them right now, so I won't be able to join you guys at the debriefing."

"I can't tell Lucy what happened," Percy said, his voice full of panic, "not by myself."

"We'll help," Connor promised, throwing an arm over Percy's shoulders. "Isn't that right, Will?"

"Of course. Gods knows the amount of times I've had to break the news that someone's died."

Percy flinched.

"I'll meet up with you guys in the Big House in five minutes," I said before jogging towards the cabins, away from the incoming demigods.

Once I was sure that I was by myself, and that included staying away from satyrs and nymphs, I unfurled the parchment that the Fates had given me. Their handwriting was as elegant as I expected it to be, but if I had dyslexia, this writing would've been murder on my eyes.

 _Andromeda, the time has come for you to face your father (which we still don't fully understand how that came to be). As you know, many critical battles are in your future, and like in years past, there will be moments where you absolutely **cannot** interfere._

 _You must not be a part of the following events: Percy bathing in the River Styx (meaning that you cannot be in the Underworld when he bathes; anything before then is acceptable), the fight at the Williamsburg Bridge (by that we mean you must not interfere when Annabeth gets stabbed or when Michael dies), and most important of all, DO NOT BE IN THE THRONE ROOM WHEN KRONOS IS ULTIMATELY DEFEATED._

 _Yes, we've revealed to you that you will be victorious against your father, but only under the circumstances that you not be there. If not, well, we've seen some rather unpleasant possibilities._

 _Best of luck, girl. We'll be in contact periodically._

 _Sincerely,_

 _The Fates._

The second that I finished reading the note, the paper spontaneously combusted, crumbling into ash in my hand. I guess they didn't want to risk anyone finding out the future.

I then began my journey to the Big House, mentally preparing myself for all the accusations that I was going to face for telling the truth. Not to mention that everyone was going to believe that I'm the spy that we still have to deal with.

Seriously, this was going to be like my first few days of camp all over again.

When I walked into the Big House, things were already chaotic around the Ping-Pong table. Clarisse, who was wearing blood red battle armor and had her electric spear strapped to her back, was screaming at Michael Yew, whose fingers were aggressively plucking at his bow's string.

"We were the ones that got the chariot!" Michael screamed. "Without us, Kyle would still have possession of it!"

"Listen here, punk," Clarisse snarled, clearly debating about whether she was going to wring Michael's neck or not. "Without the Ares cabin, there wouldn't have _been_ a raid. We've had this information for days, and it wasn't until I ordered us to act on it that we moved. The Ares cabin deserves the chariot!"

Beckendorf and Silena sat by Lucy's side, who was staring blankly at the cup of hot chocolate Clarisse had made her. Last summer, Silena and Lucy had given Clarisse dating advice, and ever since then, the daughter of Ares became both girls' personal body guard. Katie Gardener of Demeter was here as well, probably since Lucy was still in shock and wouldn't be fully aware of what was going on. I understood completely.

"It's _our_ loot!" Michael yelled, standing on his tiptoes so he could get in Clarisse's face. "If you don't like it, you can kiss my quiver!"

Around the table, people were trying not to laugh – the Stoll brothers, Katie Gardener, Pollux. However, Silena, Beckendorf, and Lucy were ignoring the argument, the couple trying to soothe their friend.

"STOP IT!" Percy yelled, his eyes full of anger once he saw the fight between Michael and Clarisse. "What are you guys doing?"

Clarisse glowered at Percy. "Tell Michael not to be a selfish jerk."

"Oh, that's perfect, coming from you," Michael said.

"The only reason I'm here is to support Lucy!" Clarisse shouted. "Otherwise I'd be back in my cabin."

"What are you talking about?" Percy demanded.

Pollux cleared his throat. "Clarisse has refused to speak to any of us, until her, um, issue is resolved. She hasn't spoken for three days."

"It's been wonderful," Travis Stoll said wistfully.

"What issue?" Percy asked.

Clarisse turned to Chiron. "You're in charge, right? Does my cabin get what we want or not?"

Chiron shuffled his hooves. "My dear, as I've already explained, Michael is correct. Apollo's cabin has the best claim. Besides, we have more important matters-"

"Sure," Clarisse snapped. "Always more important matters than what Ares needs. We're just supposed to show up and fight when you need us, and not complain!"

"That would be nice," Connor Stoll muttered.

Clarisse gripped her knife. "Maybe I should as Mr. D-"

"As you know," Chiron interrupted, his tone slightly angry now, "our director, Dionysus, is busy with the war. He can't be bothered with this."

"I see," Clarisse said. "And the senior counselors? Are _any_ of you going to side with me?"

"Chiron, how long had you known about the whereabouts of Kyle's men before the raid began?" I asked, shocking most of the senior counselors. I _always_ sided with Chiron, so for me to question must've been blasphemy in their eyes.

"Three days, Andy. Why do you ask?"

"I ask, because why didn't anyone act on this information the moment it was discovered? I can understand waiting a few hours or a day, but three whole days for a raid?" I turned to Clarisse. "You said that you were the one to organize the raid?"

Clarisse seemed to be in shock as well. "Yes. I was the one pushing for the raid until Chiron finally approved. But he said that we had to bring the Apollo cabin along as well."

I nodded my head. "And that makes sense that he did that. But you were willing to go with just your siblings on this raid, correct?"

"Yes. We didn't ask or want the Apollo cabin to come."

"You're lucky that we did," Michael snarled, "or else we wouldn't have the chariot."

"Oh, my gods," I muttered, pinching the bridge of my nose in frustration. "Hear me out before anyone tries to kill me. I can get another flying chariot easily, just choose which cabin gets the one from the raid. Would that be okay?"

"Of course not!"

"Hades no!"

That was enough senseless fighting for me. "Listen to me, both of you," I hissed, glaring at the disputants. "We're in a war time right now, meaning we don't have time to fight over pride. So, I'll say this one more time. Pick who gets a new flying chariot, or I will burn the one from the raid and no one gets it. Am I clear?"

Michael scowled. "Crystal."

"Fine." Clarisse turned to Lucy. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to get into this when you've just lost…Anyway, I apologize. To _you._ Nobody else."

Lucy didn't seem to register her words.

Clarisse threw her knife on the Ping-Pong table. "All of you can fight in this war without Ares. Until I get satisfaction, no one in my cabin is lifting a finger to help. Have fun dying."

The rest of the counselors were far too stunned to say anything as Clarisse stormed out of the room.

Finally Michael Yew said, "Good riddance."

"Are you kidding?" Katie Gardner protested. "This is a disaster!"

"She can't be serious," Travis said. "Can she?"

Chiron sighed. "Her pride has been wounded. She'll calm down eventually." But he didn't sound convinced.

"Clarisse knows how to hold her grudges," I muttered, plopping myself into a seat next to Pollux, who was probably the least annoying person in the room right now. "I wouldn't count too much on her support right now."

"Now," Chiron continued, brushing off my negative comments, "if you please, counselors. Percy has brought something I think you should hear. Percy – the Great Prophecy."

Annabeth handed Percy the parchment. He unfurled the paper, trying not to rip it, and began to read:

" _A half-blood of the eldest dogs…"_

"Err, Percy?" Annabeth interrupted. "That's _gods._ Not _dogs."_

"Oh, right." Although I didn't have dyslexia, I knew that strong emotions made it worse, fear especially. _"A half-blood of the eldest gods…shall reach sixteen against all odds…"_

Percy hesitated, staring at the next lines. I watched as he clenched his jaw, rereading the next lines a few times before continuing. _"And see the world in endless sleep. The hero's soul, cursed blade shall reap."_ He stopped again, glancing down at his pocket, where Riptide was hidden.

"Percy," Chiron urged. "Read the rest."

He swallowed a lump in his throat before reading the last two lines. " _A single choice shall…shall end his days. Olympus to per – pursue-"_

" _Preserve,"_ Annabeth said gently. "It means _to save."_

"I know what it means," he grumbled. " _Olympus to preserve or raze."_

The room was silent. Finally Connor Stoll said, "Raise is good, isn't it?"

"Not _raise,"_ Lucy said, startling us all. "R-a-z-e means _destroy."_

"Obliterate," Annabeth said. "Annihilate. Turn to rubble."

"Got it," Percy said, his face extremely pale. "Thanks."

Everybody was staring at Percy – with concern, or pity, or maybe a little fear.

Chiron closed his eyes as if he were saying a prayer. In his horse form, his head almost brushed the lights in the rec room. "You see now, Percy, why we thought it best not to tell you the whole prophecy. You've had enough on your shoulders-"

"Without realizing I was going to die in the end anyway?" Percy said. "Yeah, I get it."

I stood up so abruptly that my chair fell. "Don't you dare think like that, Percy," I said, feeling myself getting riled up that he was so complacent about his death. "I made a promise to you and your mother years ago to keep you safe, and I will do so to my dying breath."

"Andromeda," Chiron admonished. "We can't promise anything-"

"I don't care! I've been training my entire life for this entire moment, so forgive me if this upsets me. I've studied this prophecy ever since I was fourteen, Chiron. I know more than I should know. But gods be damned if I fail my duty to protect Olympus or Percy."

"You were sent to protect me?" Percy asked. "You didn't come on your own free will?"

"What?" I said, taken aback by his question. "No, no, that's not what happened at all, Percy. The first time I met you, you were seven. Poseidon had been having the same dream for a few weeks that something bad was going to happen to you, so I began dropping by to check in on you. That's why I was there the night of the shooting."

Annabeth's jaw dropped. "You were in a shooting?" she exclaimed, waiting for Percy to explain.

He ignored the question. "That was _you_ that night?"

I nodded. "I'd made plans with your mother to come visit you, and it happened to be the night of the shooting. Ever since then, I've watched out for you, Percy." I bit my lip and turned to the rest of the senior counselors. "I try to watch over all the gods' children to the best of my ability, but I can't be everywhere at once, and some gods prefer that I stay away from their children."

Travis and Connor gasped. "Is that how you knew about what Kyle was doing in our cabin?"

"Yes. And I would've interfered sooner if Zeus hadn't sent me on a mission." I sighed. "If you want to interrogate me later about what your parents had me do in your lives, fine, but right now we have more pressing matters. We've got a spy."

Michael Yew scowled. "A spy?"

Percy told them what had happened on the _Princess Andromeda_ – how Kronos had known we were coming, how he'd shown him the silver scythe pendant he'd used to communicate with someone at camp.

Lucy began to cry again, and Annabeth put an arm around her shoulders.

"Well," Connor Stoll said uncomfortably, "we've suspected there might be a spy for years, right? Somebody kept passing information to Kyle – like the location of the Golden Fleece a couple of years ago. It must be somebody who knew him well. Um, I mean, it could be anybody."

Everyone looked at each other, trying to figure out who the spy could be. As far as I knew, his only true friend had been Holly, and she had left camp with him. Who could be the spy? I'd have to ask Silena later. Not that she was the spy, I already dealt with her a few years ago, but I really hoped it wasn't Lucy.

"Yes." Katie Gardener frowned at the Stoll brothers. She'd disliked them ever since they'd decorated the grass roof of the Demeter cabin with chocolate Easter bunnies. "Like one of Kyle's siblings."

Travis and Connor both began arguing with her.

"Stop!" Lucy banged the table so hard that her hot chocolate spilled. "James is dead and…and you're all arguing like little kids!" She put her head down and began to sob.

Hot chocolate trickled off the Ping-Pong table. Everyone looked ashamed.

"She's right," Pollux said at last. "Accusing each other doesn't help. We need to keep our eyes open for a silver necklace with a scythe charm. If Kronos had one, the spy probably does too."

Instantly, I felt multiple gazes settle on my bracelet. I frowned. "What did Pollux just say about accusing each other? Do you guys really think I'm the spy?"

"Well," Travis began, "you're always gone. That's kind of suspicious, don't you think?"

My frown morphed into a scowl. "During the year, I go to school. During the summer, I'm Olympus's messenger girl, so I'm barely at camp."

"Then why are you so secretive about your bracelet?" Connor continued for his brother. "Don't think that we've forgotten what you made us do after we took your bracelet."

"You want to doubt me?" I asked. "Fine. I'll show you what every single charm on this bracelet is and what it does. Happy?"

Everyone nodded.

I sighed and began going through my many charms, showing everyone my arsenal of concealed weapons that I carried with me at all times. I also showed them the charms that I used for communication, armor, and storage (aka my bag). And, to their surprise, they never found a single scythe dangling from my wrist.

Michael Yew grunted. "Since Andy's not the spy, we need to find him before we plan our next operation. Blowing up the _Princess Andromeda_ won't stop Kronos forever."

I groaned. "And for the love of Olympus, don't say his name! It only makes him more powerful." I ran a hand through my hair and flopped back into my seat. "This has been your PSA of the day."

"Michael is right," Chiron said. "In fact, his next assault is already on the way."

Percy scowled. "You mean the 'bigger threat' Poseidon mentioned?"

He and Annabeth looked at each other like, _It's time._ Seeing that I'd been the one to inform them of Typhon's escape, I knew they were finally going to tell Percy what he'd missed on those days he was out with Rachel.

"Percy," Chiron said, "we didn't want to tell you until you returned to camp. You needed a break with your…mortal friends." Annabeth started to blush.

"Tell me what's happened," he said.

Chiron picked up a bronze goblet from the snack table. He tossed water onto the hot plate where we usually melted nacho cheese. Steam billowed up, making a rainbow in the fluorescent lights. Chiron fished a golden drachma out of his pouch, tossed it through the mist, and muttered, "O Iris, Goddess of the Rainbow, show us the threat."

The mist shimmered, revealing Mount St. Helens. As I watched, the side of the mountain exploded. Fire, ash, and lava rolled out. A newscaster's voice was saying – _"even larger than last year's eruption, and geologists warn that the mountain may not be done."_

Percy and I shared a look. We both knew about last year's eruption. We'd caused it. But this explosion was much worse. The mountain tore itself apart, collapsing inward, and an enormous form rose out of the smoke and lava like it was emerging from a manhole. Having seen Typhon for myself, I was glad that the Mist hid him from the mortals or else there would've been massive hysteria all over the country.

"It's him," Percy said. "Typhon."

Chiron simply nodded. "The most horrible monster of all, the single biggest threat the gods ever faced. He has been freed from under the mountain at last. But this scene is from two days ago. _Here_ is what is happening today."

Chiron waved his hand and the image changed. Instead of an exploding volcano, we saw dark storm clouds rolling across the Midwest plains. Lightning flickered. Lines of tornadoes destroyed everything in their path – ripping up houses and trailers, tossing cars around like Matchbox toys.

" _Monumental flood,"_ an announcer was saying. " _Five states declared disaster areas as the freak storm system sweeps east, continuing its path of destruction."_ The cameras zoomed out, giving us enough of a view to see the gods diving into the dark mass of clouds, trying to slow down Typhon.

"Are those…the gods?" Percy asked.

"Yes, Percy," Chiron said. "They have been fighting him for days now, trying to slow him down. But Typhon is marching forward – toward New York. Toward Olympus."

"How long until he gets here?"

"Unless the gods can stop him? Perhaps five days. Most of the Olympians are there…except your father, who has a war of his own to fight."

"But then who's guarding Olympus?"

Connor Stoll shook his head. "If Typhon gets to New York, it won't matter who's guarding Olympus."

"It's a trick," Percy said. "We have to warn the gods. Something else is going to happen."

Chiron looked at him gravely. "Something worse than Typhon? I hope not."

"We have to defend Olympus," Percy insisted. "The Titan King has another attack planned."

"He did," Travis Stoll reminded him. "But you sunk his ship."

I just realized how everyone missed the opportunity to say, "You sunk his battle ship!" but I guess it's not the time or place. Bummer.

Everyone was looking at Percy, hoping for good news. But I knew how my father worked. He _wanted_ us to blow up that ship, thinking that it would trick us into letting our guard down. That sneaky bastard.

"Maybe you're right," Percy said, but I could tell he didn't believe it.

"Before we adjourn," I said, stopping Chiron from dismissing the rest of the counselors. "I was told by the Fates that I am to reveal something about myself that only few know."

Chiron inhaled sharply. Percy and Annabeth looked panicked as well, the both of them making slash marks across their throats, practically begging me to shut up. But it was the Fates' will, so I couldn't defy them, not even for my friends.

"As you all know, I've been at Camp Half-Blood for nine years. Well, this is my ninth year, but same thing." I began fiddling with my beaded necklace. "I know most of you are aware of most of my powers and how radically different they are from each other. I also know that many of you believe that I'm unclaimed, but technically, that's not true either."

"Then when were you claimed?" Pollux asked. "Why didn't we know about it?"

I sighed. "Remember the year I blew up the forest during capture the flag?" Everyone nodded except Percy. "Well, when Mr. D took me to Olympus for the gods to decide my fate, my father claimed me as his daughter. I kid you not, once the gods saw who my father was, they almost killed me right then and there. Athena's judgement is the only reason I'm not dead right now."

Annabeth seemed extremely proud of that fact.

"Then who's your father?" Silena asked. "Are you a daughter of the Big Three?"

"Nah, or else this prophecy would've come to pass seven years ago. No, my father is much, much worse than being a child of the Big Three." I bit my lip. "My father is – and as much as I hate saying his name out loud, I have to this time – Kronos."

Immediately, the room was filled with gasps. Shock was evident on everyone's faces, but there were also looks of betrayal, like I'd personally back stabbed them for Kronos being my father.

"The gods let you into Camp Half-Blood?!" Michael exclaimed. "This is a haven for demigods, not demititans! How dare you come here and claim to be one of us!"

"Michael," Chiron admonished.

"No, he's right, Chiron," Katie agreed. "How do we know we can trust Andy if all she's done is lie to us for nine years?"

"She has done no such thing!" Annabeth yelled. "So what if her father is Kronos? Andy has done nothing but try to protect us from the moment she stepped foot into camp! If you're willing to forget everything nice she's ever done for you just because of who her father is, shame on you!"

That was enough to end the conversation pretty quickly.

"Well," Chiron said. "I think that's enough for one night."

"That's an understatement," Percy muttered.

And the war council adjourned.


	49. Chapter 49

The next day, we burned James's shroud, which went as well as a funeral could go. The Ares and Apollo cabins called a temporary truce to attend the service, showing just how much James had meant to everyone at camp.

He'd been safe for years, having left camp to go to college the same year that I started going to school. He and Lucy had made plans of having a future together, but because I asked him to come back and help with the war, he was gone now.

Lucy was sobbing in the front row, Silena holding her friend in a tight hug while Clarisse guarded the both of them, as if daring anyone to so much as look at the daughter of Demeter.

Chiron asked me to burn the pyre, saying that I'd known James the best out of anyone at camp, excluding Lucy. But what kind of person would ask Lucy to burn her own boyfriend's shroud? So I numbly accepted, realizing that this would be the fifth shroud burning I was a part of, which was five more times than I would've liked.

I silently lowered the torch onto the metal chains, watching the flames slip through the loops, causing them to heat up and eventually turn to smoke. My heart ached as I heard Lucy whimpering James's name, praying to Olympus that he made it to Elysium.

Afterwards, I pulled Lucy aside, giving her the dog tags and the ring I found in the debris of the explosion, which only made her cry harder. "There was nothing you could've done?" she asked me, wiping away her tears.

"I'm so sorry," I replied, unable to meet her gaze. "But he really loved you, Lucy. I hope you know that."

Then I left the campfire pit, anger towards my father fueling my actions. I needed to break something, or I was going to go insane.

I walked deep into the forest, lugging a huge crate full of discarded pottery from the arts and crafts shed and set up shop in a nearby clearing. After setting the pottery on different branches in the trees, I took out my bow and began shooting, a feeling of satisfaction filling me as I heard the clay shatter like glass.

I didn't stop shooting even after all the pottery had been destroyed, instead finding some fallen logs and firing arrows until they split apart. I would've kept going too if it wasn't for the fact that Luke found me and placed a gentle hand on my arm, lowering my bow to face the ground instead of my target.

"You're bleeding," he said, taking my bow out of my hands. "How long have you been out here, Andy?"

I glanced down at my fingertips, surprised to see that Luke was right. My fingers, and therefore my bow string, were coated in a thin layer of blood from how long I'd been out here. "Since the shroud burning," I said, tugging on the charm that made my bow and quiver disappear.

"That was-"

"Four hours, twenty-seven minutes, and fifteen seconds ago. I know, Luke." I sighed. "I just needed to get away from it all for some time. I've been dreading this moment for years, and now that it's here…"

"You're afraid," Luke realized, his eyes widening in shock.

"Terrified," I agreed. "It's one thing to read about the atrocities that your father committed and know his punishment than actually having to face the bastard for myself."

"I'll be here when you need me," Luke assured me, gently taking my uninjured hand and leading me back towards camp. "Now, let's get Will to take a look at that hand."

"There's no need. I'll be fine after I wash my hands."

"Are you sure? Do you need anything?"

"I need for my father to go rot in hell, but I think I'm good otherwise."

Luke blinked twice. "Right, then I think you should know that Nico's here."

I froze dead in my tracks. That meant Percy was going to bathe in the Styx sometime tonight as well as be captured by Hades. Maybe I should've included Percy as one of the people that Hades should be nicer to. Whoops.

"Where is he?"

"At the grove of the Council of Cloven Elders, I think. Andy, what's going-?"

"I've got to go," I interrupted before vanishing into the shadows, landing on top of Mrs. O'Leary by accident. As if I needed to scare more people than I already did, Juniper and Leneus nearly jumped out of their skins when I appeared.

"Gods of Olympus, girl, you nearly gave me a heart attack!" the old satyr accused, wagging a crooked finger at me.

"Judging from how long you've been alive, I think your heart hasn't suffered any damage from a jump scare." I slid off Mrs. O'Leary's back, laughing as she licked the side of my face, causing my hair to stick up from her slobber. "Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't Percy here tell you to go be a leader and rally up the satyrs?"

"How do you know that?"

"I have ears everywhere, Leneus. Now, scram!"

The poor satyr almost had a cow from how badly I'd scared him, tripping over tree roots as he tried to run away. I saw the traces of an amused smile on Nico's face, making me smile as well.

"A little much, don't you think?" Juniper asked, shaking her head in exasperation. "You shouldn't join his list of people he antagonizes, Andy."

"I don't care," I shrugged. "He doesn't believe Grover and is rude about it, so he's already on my list of people I antagonize." I turned to Nico, who was scratching Mrs. O'Leary behind the ear, causing her to thump her hind leg against the ground so loudly that it sounded like a freight train was headed towards camp.

"So, I'm guessing you're here because it's time to take Percy on a trip to our favorite river?"

Nico rolled his eyes. "Could you say that louder? I don't think the Titans in California heard you."

Percy chewed on his lip. "Nico, I don't know. It seems pretty extreme."

"You've got Typhon coming in, what…a week? Most of the other Titans are unleashed now and on our grandfather's side. Maybe it's time to think extreme."

"He's right, Percy," I agreed. "We need you to be on par with Kyle, to have the same power as him."

"Why haven't you done it, Andy?" Percy asked, sounding genuinely curious. "You're the gods' greatest weapon, not me. So why haven't you bathed in the Styx?"

"I'm not eligible to," I explained. "For one thing, I don't know if girls are allowed to bear the curse of Achilles, though I think they can, and secondly, I can never get the blessing I need."

"What blessing?"

"That's why I'm here," Nico said. "The story is very fuzzy about whether a blessing is needed or not, so we've got to investigate Kyle's family before we go through with this."

Percy sighed, deflating like a balloon. But he agreed to go follow through on the plan and hopped onto Mrs. O'Leary's back. "So, where to?" he asked.

"Atlanta, Georgia," I answered. "To the house of Heidi Martin."

I took Nico's hand, and before he could protest, I pulled the both of us into the shadows, traveling from New York to Georgia.

* * *

Heidi Martin's house was just as nice as I expected the houses in the south to be. I mean, I'd only been to the southeastern U.S. a handful of times, but from what I'd seen, they were typically nicer and larger than the houses you'd see up north.

Her home was two stories tall and painted beige, fitting in with the color scheme of her neighborhood. There was an American flag hanging from a pole on one side of her garage, flapping wildly in the wind. Her garden was blooming with bluebells, honey suckles, and irises, showing that they were well cared for. Hanging on the wall next to her door was a large wooden cross that had the word _FAMILY_ written across the middle.

Once Percy and Mrs. O'Leary arrived, I knocked on the door, praying that we wouldn't be dealing with a May Castellan type of woman. No offense to Ms. Castellan or anything, but I didn't feel like having burnt cookies and moldy PB&J sandwiches shoved in my face at the moment.

"Hello?" Ms. Martin said, cracking open the door enough so that she could see us. She was much shorter than Kyle, standing around five feet exactly, but I could tell that her personality made up for her physical stature. She had shoulder length hair that was light brown with blonde highlights, making her look extremely young to be a mother. She was also wearing a light blue cardigan and a flowy skirt that reached the floor. "Can I help you?"

"Are you Kyle Martin's mother?" I asked, plastering a gentle smile onto my face.

That seemed to put her on edge. "Yes," she answered warily. "And you three are?"

"I'm a friend of his from summer camp," I said. "These boys are just my cousins, but I was wondering if I could talk to you about Kyle. He's in trouble."

"My son's in trouble?" she gasped. "What happened?"

"He's left camp, and we haven't been able to find him. I was hoping that you might have seen him recently?"

Ms. Martin nodded vehemently. "Yes, I saw him last month. He was here with his girlfriend, Holly. He asked me for my blessing for some reason, but I thought he was going to elope, so I said no. But he came back a few days later, begging for the blessing, so I finally said yes. I haven't seen him since."

"Thank you for your cooperation, Ms. Martin," I said, lacing my voice with my own compulsion. "Now, I'd like for you to forget that we were ever here. You'll forget our faces and how we know your son."

"What are you doing?" Nico hissed in Ancient Greek, tightly gripping my wrist.

"Goodness me, who are you?" Ms. Martin asked us, her eyes glazed over as she looked at us.

"Sorry, miss," I said demurely. "Wrong house."

"Oh, I see. Well, have a good night." She closed the door, and I led the boys back to Mrs. O'Leary.

Nico didn't hesitate to rip his hand free of my own grasp, his glare as steely as his father's. "You're lucky I don't hit girls," he muttered, the shadows swirling around him in response to his agitation. "You could've blown our cover! What were you thinking?"

"Kyle is extremely good at getting information from his sources, including his mother. Trust me, she would've called him and asked him about us. We couldn't risk being found out."

"So, I _do_ need my mother's blessing then?" Percy asked.

"I believe so," Nico said, still scowling at me. "Next time you plan on doing something like that, let me know."

"Whatever you say, Neeks."

"Don't call me that!"

Despite how scared Percy clearly was, he was struggling to hide his laughter from the son of Hades.

"Fine," I acquiesced. "But I'm shadow-traveling us this time again."

"I hate being touched," Nico bristled. "You know that, Andy."

"Yeah, but I also know that tonight's going to end with you and Percy in the Underworld, meaning that you'll need your strength."

"Where will you be?" Percy asked.

"I can't be in the Underworld tonight. There's something I have to do elsewhere." I twirled my bracelet. "Things are getting worse, and seeing that there's no one protecting Olympus, I've been asked to evacuate the people that live up there."

"Asked by whom?" Nico demanded. "All the gods are either fighting Typhon or dealing with Titans in their own domain."

"The Fates, Nico," I replied in the same tone, annoyed how rude Nico was being. I knew he was desperate for answers, but as far as I knew, I hadn't done anything recently to piss him off. "I was asked by the Fates to evacuate Olympus. Now, do you have any more questions about things you have no need to involve yourself with, or can we go?"

Nico, realizing that he'd hurt my feelings, kept his mouth shut, unable to meet my eyes. I grabbed a hold of both boys' hands and vanished into the shadows, depositing us into the living room of Percy's apartment. Seconds later, Mrs. O'Leary appeared in the apartment as well, nearly crushing us under her enormous paws.

After adjusting Mrs. O'Leary so that all of us were sitting in the kitchen, I said my goodbye to Percy, Nico, Paul, and Sally. I pulled Percy into a tight hug, pressing my lips gently against his forehead, whispering a prayer as he dropped his arms back to his side.

"I will see you soon," I told Percy. "I promise."

Sally, who looked like she was trying not to cry, nodded weakly, fiddling with the necklace I'd given her last Christmas. "Thank you, Andy, for everything."

I gave her a small smile. "It's been my pleasure, Sally. Stay safe, squirts," I said, ruffling both boys' hair before walking into my own shadow.

I stepped out in the middle of the throne room, watching Hestia tend to the flames all by her lonesome. Above the room, the dome that protected Olympus was visible, little blue lights bouncing off the dome like moths flying into fly zappers.

Every time that something hit the dome, Hestia shuddered, and the flame flickered slightly. It was eerily quiet in the throne room without any of the gods present. Somehow, the room seemed even more intimidating being empty, the large thrones casting ominous shadows on the floor.

Hestia's hearth was visibly dying, the goddess shivering as she prodded the coals with her stick, hoping to keep the flames alight. Although she kept adding wood, the fire would catch only for a moment before immediately fizzling out, as if she replaced fuel with water.

"Hestia," I said, approaching the hearth, frowning at how cold it was. Usually the fire was so hot and in your face that you'd start sweating within ten feet of the burning brazier – not to mention that the flames could leap to twenty feet high if Hestia so wished. "How can I help?"

The goddess gave me a weak smile, pausing for a moment to tuck one of her curls back underneath her shawl. "I'm glad you're here, my dear. It's getting harder to tend to the fire as my father draws near." She shuddered again at the thought of Kronos, and honestly, I didn't blame her. As the first child of Kronos, she spent the longest time in his gut, having to raise her other brothers and sisters as they were devoured as well.

Reaching into the fire, I thought about the good memories I had with my friends in my past life, offering up those memories as a sacrifice while channeling my energy into the hearth. When I pulled my and away, I saw streaks of blue and green lacing the flames, watching as the wood Hestia had recently added caught fire as well.

"Thank you for your offering, young one," Hestia said kindly. "Perhaps the fire won't die tonight."

"I won't let the fire die, not as long as I'm here." I pulled my hair out of my face, tying it back into a ponytail. "I'll be back soon, my lady, but I have to get the others to safety. We'll soon be under siege, and I'd like to prevent as many casualties as possible."

Hestia nodded in understanding. "Go, daughter of Olympus. Be the hero we always knew you'd become."

I bowed in the direction of my godly sister before taking off running from the throne room, shooting my sonic arrows into the sky at every couple intersections in the market place. Years ago, when I was sixteen, Athena and I had come up with a plan about how to warn Olympus' inhabitants should a threat ever bypass our first lines of security.

Though it took a few years, by the time I was eighteen, every nymph, satyr, and god that lived on Olympus knew what the sound of multiple sonic arrows meant: we were under attack. My arrows acted like the sirens used during a tornado, and people took heed of my warning, grabbing their emergency kits and running towards their safe houses.

One of the nymphs, Lilac, stopped and clamped her hands around my arms, her purple eyes glowing with fright. "Please tell me he isn't here," she begged, squeezing so tightly that I thought she was going to cut off the circulation to the rest of my arms.

"No, but he'll be here within the week. Tell your friends that they still have time to evacuate if they wish, but I think you will all be safer here, in your bunkers."

Lilac nodded her head vehemently. "Okay. I trust you, Andy." She gathered her belongings and took off running to the nearest safe house, which just so happened to be a bunker underneath a statue of Artemis.

Athena and I had managed to get Hephaestus on board with our plans as well, so after the two of us promised to work on any project he gave us for the next month, he helped us build bunkers all over Olympus, hidden in the most obscure of places.

There was one underneath the library, one built into the gardens that surrounded the amphora, and one built under the seats of the amphitheater. There were countless others as well, but those three were the largest and the furthest from the main city, which would hopefully mean that the people who took refuge there would be safer.

For the next thirty minutes, I kept shooting my sonic arrows, waiting for the streets to be completely void of life. Huh, this is what it must've felt like during the bombings of London during World War II.

Afterwards, I returned my bow to its charm and began running around the city, checking that everyone had evacuated to the nearest bunker. I'd found a couple stubborn immortals who refused to leave their homes, saying that they would be perfectly fine where they were. I tried to convince as many people to leave as I could, but I knew just how stubborn people could be, especially immortals, so I gave up and moved onto the next building.

Once I did my sweep of Olympus, which took a total of thirteen hours, fifty-seven minutes, and eight seconds, I returned to the throne room, heavily swaying on my feet. Hestia frowned at the state she saw me in, patting the ground next to her.

"Rest, Andromeda," she commanded softly, a sleeping bag appearing where her hand had touched the marble floor. "You'll need your strength for what is to come. And fear not, I will watch over you as you sleep."

I didn't put up a fight, knowing that I would be of no use to anyone if I became a liability from sleep deprivation. I climbed into the sleeping bag and fell asleep the moment my eyes closed, drifting off to dreamland to the sound of Hestia humming an Ancient Greek lullaby.

* * *

In my dream, I found myself back in Salina's library, sitting at a large, circular table with a mountain of books piled in front of me. However, there was one book that was already open, sitting right in front of me, as if its sole purpose was for me to read it.

"Welcome back, daughter," Salina said, appearing from behind the books, her eyes shining with unbridled joy. "It's been a while, hasn't it?"

"Mom!" I exclaimed, launching myself at the goddess, wrapping my arms tightly around her waist. She laughed at my enthusiasm, gently running her fingers through my hair, humming the same song that Hestia had been humming when I fell asleep.

"It's good to see you, Andy," Salina said, backing up so that she could give me a once over. "My, how you've grown! I still remember when I first adopted you all those years ago."

My face was burning. "Gods, adolescence wasn't exactly the best time of my life," I muttered, returning my attention back to the only open book. "What _is_ this?" I asked, pointing to the page that the book had been open to.

I had no clue what language the book was written in, because instead of Greek, Latin, or English, there were symbols, almost as if I were reading Mandarin or Japanese. But I knew this wasn't either of those languages, either. These symbols seemed to be much older, more powerful and unrefined than any modern day language.

"That would be my copy of _The Guide to the Universe_ ," Salina said, her fingers skimming across the rune covered page, stopping at the caption underneath the picture in the middle of the page. "This was a gift from the Creator herself. Recently, we've been in contact, and, well, she believes that it's time that we tell you the truth about your mother."

"My mother?" I asked, furrowing my eyebrows in confusion. "From which planet?"

Salina sighed. "It appears that the same woman gave birth to you in both timelines, although she definitely met a kinder fate on your home planet than here. Would you like to see her?"

"She's alive?"

"Not in this timeline, I'm afraid. Your father made sure of it." Salina flipped the page, revealing a picture of a man brutally slaughtering his wife. "After what happened with Rhea and the gods, Kronos wanted to make sure that he wouldn't be conned out of another child, so he killed your mother in cold blood, hoping that he'd get a chance to raise you himself.

"But seeing that he was still chained to the depths of Tartarus, he had to leave the man he possessed to avoid being noticed by the gods. Instead, he sent his minions after you with the promise that you would be raised in Tartarus, taught to hate Olympus and everything the gods stand for."

"That psycho," I muttered, my eyes scanning the picture on the next page. "Who's that?" I asked, pointing at the woman who was holding a bundle in her arms, shielding the baby's eyes from the gruesome murder scene in front of her.

"That would be Lady Rhea. Once she heard that Kronos had impregnated a mortal woman, Rhea searched everywhere for your mother, wanting to protect her child from meeting the same fate as the Olympians. Unfortunately, she arrived too late to save your mother, but she kept you safe until your father's minions had been dealt with. Afterwards, you were placed into foster care, and the rest is history."

I nodded, trying to absorb everything I was hearing. "But what about the woman who was really my mother, the one from my planet? I mean, I guess it's good to know how my father came to be my father, but I want to know the truth about my parents."

Salina cringed, her hand stopped mid flip from turning the page. "Are you sure you want to know? Your parents' tale is more tragic than anything you've witnessed on this planet."

"I've been waiting twenty-five years to learn the truth, Mom. I think I can handle this."

"All right," Salina agreed, "but if it becomes too much, let me know, and I'll stop."

As she went to turn the page, the house shook violently, as if someone had just thrown a grenade at the building. Moments later, both her husband, Taurus, and Rick Riordan came running into the library, decked out in full battle armor, swords gleaming in their hands.

"They've found us," Rick panted breathlessly, sweat pouring down his face.

Salina paled. "It can't be. This place was enchanted to-"

"Yeah, well they did," Taurus scowled. "And if we don't go right now, they're going to kill us all, starting with the girl." He gestured towards me, nearly stabbing me with his sword.

Salina pursed her lips and twisted one of her rings, her own armor materializing onto her body. Then, without so much as a second thought, she pulled out a match and pressed the flame against the nearest book case, watching the pages catch on fire.

"No one must ever find these books," she told me, scooping up her copy of _The Guide to the Universe_ before the flames could reach it. She then shoved the book into my arms, nearly knocking me off balance. "Keep this safe, Andy. I'll come get it back one day." She then kissed my forehead. "I give you my blessing, daughter of mine."

"Wait, what?" I asked, clutching the book tightly against my chest.

The building groaned again. A window shattered, spewing glass all over the floor.

"It's time to go," Rick said, hissing as he plucked out a piece of glass from his wrist. He turned to me and gave me a wry smile. "We'll all see each other again very soon, I promise. But for now, good luck against your father."

Then he stepped forward and placed his index finger against my forehead, causing me to jerk awake in my own sleeping bag, slamming my head against the underside of Hestia's hearth. I groaned as I rubbed the forming bump on my forehead, swearing under my breath.

When I got to my feet, I looked around the throne room, surprised that Hestia was nowhere to be found. Somehow, the hearth was still burning, though the fire seemed a smidge colder without the goddess' presence.

Hestia appeared five minutes later, her expression one of apprehension and slight fear as she took her rightful place by the hearth. Being by the hearth seemed to make her feel better, but I could still see her visibly shaking, making me wonder what the heck she'd been doing while I was sleeping.

"Hestia?" I asked. "Are you all right?"

She nodded weakly. "I am fine, my dear. Do not fret about me." She gestured towards the front doors of the throne room. "Your friends are here."

"My friends?"

Not a moment later, I saw Percy leading the rest of Camp Half-Blood into the throne room of the gods, a mixture of fear, nervousness, and maybe even a little bit of awe on everyone's face.

"Andy," Percy said, his voice extremely business like. "We need to talk."


	50. Chapter 50

Percy, having realized that Hestia was in the throne room as well, then bowed in respect. "Lady Hestia," he said, getting up from his bow.

"I see you went through with your plan. You bear the curse of Achilles."

I turned to the goddess. "Not to be rude or anything, but is innate that all gods are this theatric when it comes to secrets?"

Hestia rolled her eyes, which actually seemed kind of cool seeing that her irises were little flames. "When you live with Zeus for millennia, his tendencies start to rub off on you." She fixed her attention back to Percy. "You must be careful, Percy. You gained much on your journey. But you are still blind to the most important truth. Perhaps a glimpse is in order."

Annabeth nudged him. "Um…what is she talking about?"

Then Percy went rigid, causing me to sigh and walk over, sliding my arms underneath his armpits and clasping my hands together in front of his chest.

"What are you doing?" Annabeth asked, gesturing to my hands.

"You'll see," I said, "in five, four, three, two…"

Percy's knees buckled, but since I was holding him up, he didn't have to learn what the throne room floor felt like against your face. Unfortunately, I speak from experience. Seriously, marble isn't kind to human flesh.

"Percy!" Annabeth exclaimed, rushing to help steady Percy. "What happened?"

"Did…did you see that?"

"See what?"

He turned to Hestia, but she had returned to stoking her fire.

"How long was I out?" Percy asked, rubbing his temples as if to stave off a forming headache.

Annabeth knit her eyebrows. "Percy, you weren't out at all. You just looked at Hestia for like one second and collapsed."

Percy grimaced. "Um, Lady Hestia," he said, "we've come on urgent business. We need to see-"

"We know what you need," a man's voice said.

Right next to Hestia, Hermes shimmered into appearance. Instead of wearing his red nylon running shorts and New York City Marathon t-shirt, he was dressed in a military pilot's flight suit, with tiny bird-s wings fluttering on his helmet and his black leather boots. In the crook of his arm was a long staff entwined with two living serpents.

"I will leave you now," Hestia said. She bowed to her nephew and disappeared into smoke.

Helpful, I thought to myself.

While the rest of the demigods bowed towards Hermes, I cocked my head to the side, giving him a once over. "Welcome back, Hermes," I said, waving my greeting to Martha and George before the snakes could call me out on it. "How's Typhon going?"

"About as well as what happened the first time," Hermes said with a scowl, the wings on his clothing fluttering agitatedly.

"Meaning we're massively screwed."

"Pretty much, yeah."

Annabeth shook her head at me, gesturing to the rest of the campers, who looked like they were either going to pee themselves or pass out from fright.

"Um, Hermes," Percy interrupted, raising his hand. "We need to talk to Zeus. It's important."

Hermes's eyes quickly lost their mirth at the sight of the demigods, turning steely cold. "I am his messenger. May I take a message?"

Towards the back end of the group, where most of the children of Hermes were, they shuddered, not having seen their father unnerved like this before. "You guys," Percy said, turning towards the rest of the demigods. "Why don't you do a sweep of the city? Check the defenses. See who's left in Olympus. Meet Annabeth and me back here in thirty minutes."

Silena frowned. "But-"

"That's a good idea," Annabeth said. "Connor and Travis, you two lead."

The Stolls seemed to like that- getting handed an important responsibility right in front of their dad. If I remembered correctly, the last time the Stoll brothers got to lead anything, they toilet paper rolled every cabin at camp, especially the Artemis cabin since the Hunters had been there for a weekend. How else did you think that the cabins caught on fire so easily when the Hunters retaliated?

Hermes turned to me, clearly confused. "Didn't we…?"

I waved off his question. "Let them have their moment. It'll give the rest of us some privacy."

"I see."

"My lord," Annabeth said. "Kronos is going to attack New York. You must suspect that. My _mother_ must have foreseen it."

"Your mother," Hermes grumbled. He scratched his back with his caduceus, and George and Martha muttered _Ow, ow, ow._ "Don't get me started on your mother, young lady. She's the reason I'm here at all. Zeus didn't want any of us to leave the front line. But your mother kept pestering him nonstop, 'It's a trap, it's a diversion, blah, blah, blah.' She wanted to come back herself, but Zeus was not going to let his number one strategist leave his side while we're battling Typhon. And so naturally he sent _me_ to talk to you."

"But it _is_ a trap!" Annabeth insisted. "Is Zeus blind?"

I cringed at the comment. "Watch your wording," I warned. "Zeus will still kill you where you stand if you're disrespectful." To further cement the fact, thunder rolled through the sky.

"I'd watch the comments, girl," Hermes agreed. "Zeus is not blind _or_ deaf. He has not left Olympus completely undefended."

The god gestured to the protective dome overhead before patting me on the back as well. "Andromeda here has been trained for this exact reason. She is bound to Olympus for the rest of her life, and as such, she is our last line of defense."

Luke, who had refused to leave with the others, scowled at his father. "Stop treating her like some pet, and treat her like a person, Hermes," he said, his hands clenched into fists at his sides.

"Luke, you don't-" I began.

"No, Andy, you always put others before yourself, but not this time." Luke took a deep breath, which seemed to calm him down. "At least ask if she wants to be here, Dad. Don't force her to risk her life for the rest of us."

Hermes looked at me expectantly. "Well, then. Do you want to be here, Andy, fulfilling your duty as you promised us all those years ago?"

"I do."

"There you have it, Luke," Hermes said, stabbing his caduceus into the ground. "She stands firm in her decision. Now, before I go, there was something I had to tell you all…" He scratched his head in confusion. "But for the life of me, it seems I can't remember what the message was."

"Please, Hermes," Annabeth pleaded. "You said my mother wanted to come. Did she give you any messages for us?"

The god frowned. "I'm positive that she did, but I can't remember." Hermes looked around, a genuine look of surprise on his face as he realized that he was standing in the middle of an empty throne room. "Wait, why am I here? Wasn't I fighting Typhon just now?"

The four of us in the room glanced at each other, unable to believe what we were seeing. Since when did gods, especially the messenger god, forget what they were sent to do? Not to mention, this never happened in the books.

"Lord Hermes," I said, pinning his attention on myself rather than on the others. "Zeus sent you to give us a message from Lady Athena. Do you remember what she wanted to tell us?"

He shook his head miserably. "I'm sorry, I don't remember."

I nodded grimly. "That's fine. You should get going, though. The other gods will need your help."

It didn't take much convincing to get Hermes to leave, shame written clear as day across his face before he disappeared, returning to the fight against Typhon. Needless to say, Annabeth was crushed about the fact that her mother's message hadn't been relayed to her.

"What are we supposed to do now?" she asked. "My mother must've had a plan that we could've used."

Percy and Luke turned to me. "You hang out with the gods," Luke said. "Maybe you know what Athena had in mind."

I began fiddling with my bracelet. "Plan twenty-three," I said, watching Annabeth's eyes go wide with realization. "We need to begin activation as soon as possible. And, Percy, you have to remember the rivers. Also, while I don't agree with this, Athena told me to tell you to stay away from her daughter."

Luke was chuckling softly at the bright red blush that covered both Percy and Annabeth's cheeks.

"Anything else?" Annabeth asked, ignoring how Percy was gaping at her like a fish out of water.

"We'll have to hold Manhattan on our own, but I'm pretty sure we all knew that by now." I started to pace back and forth. "But we have bigger problems to deal with than being low in numbers."

"What could possibly be bigger than you-know-who attacking New York?" Percy asked. "And what do you mean, 'remember the rivers?'"

I waved away both of his questions. "I'll explain in time, Percy, but right now, we need to go. The others are waiting for us by the-"

I was cut off by Connor Stoll running into the throne room, paler than I'd ever seen him before and breathing heavily, as if someone had just knocked all the wind out of him. "You need to see this," Connor said, holding a hand against his chest as he tried to regain his breath. " _Now."_

* * *

We found the other campers gathered in a small park at the edge of the mountain. They were clustered at the guardrail, looking down at Manhattan. The railing was lined with those tourist binoculars, where you could deposit one golden drachma and see the city. Campers were using every single one.

I noticed the silence almost immediately, feeling a chill sink into my bones. I shuddered with disgust as I ran to the guardrail, looking down into the streets of Manhattan. Though I could still see the Hudson and East River snaking around the island and all the lit up skyscrapers and roads, I saw that everything was eerily still. The wrongness of it all deeply upset me, the constant hustle and bustle of the city having become one of the most consistent things in my life.

"I don't…hear anything," Annabeth said.

"Oh, gods," Luke muttered, pushing aside one of his younger siblings to get a look at the sleeping city through the binoculars.

"What did they do?" Percy asked, his voice sounding tight and angry. "What did they do to my city?" He then pushed Michael Yew aside and used the binoculars, a scowl forming on his face as he took note of all the sleeping mortals everywhere.

"Are they dead?" Silena asked in astonishment.

"And see the world in endless sleep," I mumbled to myself, wincing when I heard other people gasping at my comment. I hadn't meant to be so loud, but with all this silence, it wasn't too hard to overhear anything.

"Not dead," Percy confirmed, angrily shoving the binoculars aside. "Morpheus has put the entire island of Manhattan to sleep. The invasion has started."

* * *

I was pacing back and forth in front of the Door of Orpheus, mulling over what had happened in my dream last night. Salina had given me her blessing for some reason, and it just so happened to be the same night that Percy had gotten his Curse of Achilles. I didn't believe in coincidences, and Salina never did something as major as giving her blessing without expecting me to do something in return.

Trust me, I learned that quickly while under her training.

I stopped at one point, pressing my hands against the moss covered rock, shivering at the perpetual cold I felt. It held the same aura of death that surrounded DOA studios, except this was a much more powerful aura – unrefined and angry from being unused.

"Okay, Salina," I said, positioning myself so that I was standing right in front of the hidden entrance. "Let's see what you have planned."

Now, I could just shadow-travel myself to the Underworld and be done with it, but from what I've read about the Curse of Achilles, you were supposed to walk down to the banks of the Styx, not just appear. Then again, there's only been three documented cases, so I guess that could be inaccurate, but there's no way I was going to take any unnecessary risks about what I was about to do.

"Music," I said out loud, trying to think of a song. I'd already tried using my phone, but all that managed to do was make a single stone fall to the ground. Apparently Orpheus had set the standard much higher than anything electronic music could hope to achieve.

I finally settled on "Top of the World" by Greek Fire, deciding that the song was fitting seeing our circumstances. And while I definitely wasn't going to earn any awards for my singing voice, the entrance shuddered, the rocks collapsing inward and revealing the tunnel that led right to the depths of the Underworld.

 _Andy?_ I heard Percy's voice ask. _Where are you?_

I swore under my breath, quickly walking into the tunnel before the entrance disappeared again. Whatever light had been illuminating the tunnel quickly vanished as the rocks reassembled, plunging me into darkness. I opened the palm of my hand, a flame dancing along my fingertips.

 _I'm in Central Park right now. Why?_

 _I need you_ here _with the rest of us. We're severely outnumbered, even with the Hunters._

 _The Hunters are here?_

 _Yeah, they just arrived. But stop trying to change the subject! What are you doing in Central Park?_

I kept walking further down the tunnel, the smell of mildew intensifying as I moved deeper into the earth. The whispers of dead spirits flew past, leaving a chilly breeze as they moved onward. Even from here, I could hear the screams from the Fields of Punishment, the crack of the Furies' whips breaking the otherwise quietness associated with the Underworld.

 _I'm investigating a lead on how to break Morpheus's spell. I should be back soon._

 _Could you at least try to give me an ETA?_

 _Maybe an hour or two._

 _We don't have that kind of time, Andy! There's a Sherman tank heading for the Lincoln Tunnel and a ship full of monsters heading towards us on the East and Hudson Rivers. I need you here to help the Demeter and Hephaestus cabins protect their tunnels._

 _I'll be back in time, Percy. Don't worry about me._

 _Please hurry. I don't like our chances if we can't figure out something soon._

 _Don't forget the rivers. They'll be your saving grace. Good luck, Percy, I'll see you in an hour._

I slipped my cloud charm off my bracelet and tucked it away into my bag, preventing anyone else from trying to establish a connection with me. I needed to be concentrated on this task if I was to still be alive for the rest of the day.

The River Styx was by far the most powerful of the five rivers of the Underworld, its black, frothy water striking fear into the heart of anyone who stared at it for too long. Well, that is if you don't live in the Underworld, that is.

I'd grown so accustomed to walking by the banks of the Styx that I wasn't deathly afraid of the river, but now that I was standing by myself on the edge of the river, I suddenly realized why so many souls tried to stay as far away as possible. One misstep, and poof, you're gone for eternity, your soul dissolved within the depths of the ancient waters.

Like I'd expected, I saw the ghost of Achilles rise out of the Styx and walk against the edge of the riverbank, standing directly in front of me. The famed arrow that killed arguably the best warrior during the Trojan War jutted out from the back of his heel, the skin there permanently bloodied from the wound that would never be allowed to heal.

"Achilles," I said, bowing my head in respect towards the fallen hero.

The ghost nodded, a sad look on his face. "I know you, girl. I have seen you walk the banks of this very river a great number of times. You have somehow managed to instill more hope into these cursed waters, though I am unsure of how. You have brought me some peace of mind knowing that the Styx is being taken care of.

"That being said, I urge you to turn away from this wretched place. I have warned the others, neither of which heeded my warning. Please, kind, hopeful girl, walk away from this terrible curse. You are so much more than what this river can provide you with."

Achilles spoke with such sorrow and bitterness that I was seriously begin to doubt my decision. Maybe I shouldn't bathe in the Styx. I mean, I usually escaped most of my fights unscathed anyways as long as I wore my armor – so what good was invulnerability going to do me? Not to mention that I frequently visited Camp Jupiter, meaning that the Lares would definitely sense that something wasn't right about me.

But as I began to back away from the river, Achilles shouted, "Girl, watch out!" trying to shove me out of the way of the charging girl heading my way.

Holly, I realized too little too late, the both of us tumbling into the River Styx from her momentum.

Instantly, every single part of my body was on fire. I felt like I was thrown into a boiling vat of sulfuric acid mixed with Greek fire, my soul being destroyed from the inside out.

Remember your lifeline, I told myself, concentrating on anything to prevent myself from being dissolved in the river. Now that I was being forced into this curse, I thought of my mortal point as being a tiny spot underneath my tongue, a nearly impossible place for anyone to hit unless they decided to cut out my tongue.

Visions of my friends and family flashed right before my eyes; my throat seemed to constrict, realizing that I couldn't breathe in this water, as if I was swimming in oil instead. Come on, I thought, trying to grasp onto any memory that I could.

Eventually I just saw Apollo sitting on a surfboard, looking down at me with a face-splitting smile. He held his hand out, saying, "Come on, I need you here, Andy. You're not getting out of this war so easily."

Just as I was about to black out from hypoxia, I gripped Apollo's hand and felt myself get thrown out of the river like week old trash, the rocky shore scrapping my palms and my knees as I heaved, throwing up all the excess water I'd been forced to breathe in. I then fell on my back in exhaustion, my clothes completely soaking wet, my body trembling from the shock and the cold.

Achilles quickly rushed over, his pale green eyes alight in anger. "Are you alright, girl?" he asked, his voice soft as he glared murderously at the river, where Holly was still struggling to get out.

"Just fine," I groaned, pushing myself up onto my feet. I began staggering back towards the Styx.

"What are you doing?" Achilles hissed, appearing in front of me. "Did you not learn your lesson the first time about the pain that comes from these waters?"

"I have to help her," I said, plucking the single poppy flower that somehow was growing by the Styx instead of the Lethe.

"She tried to kill you! She forced you into the worst possible curse anyone could ever possibly bear!"

"I don't care." I forced the stem of the poppy to grow long enough to act as a rope. "I'll still try to save her."

I tied off one end of the stem to create a lasso and threw it into the Styx, cursing every time that it would land just a little to the left or right of Holly, who had now gone limp. If I didn't figure something out soon, she was going to die.

After another five tries, the lasso finally landed around one of Holly's legs. I made the loop tighten its grip on Holly's leg and began pulling. But the Styx, seemingly unhappy with someone interfering in its judgement of a soul, burned right through the cellulose rope, pulling Holly right back into the depths of the water. As I prepared to launch myself back into the river's depths, a wave of pure black water washed over Holly.

When the wave passed, Holly was nowhere to be found.

Achilles bowed his head. "The Styx has claimed another life. I warned you, girl, not many get to experience the full strength of this river and walk out alive."

"So will she come here now?" I asked, horrified to think that this was the way Holly was fated to die. "To the Underworld?"

"I'm afraid not. Her soul has been sent to the depths of the Styx, guarded by the river's nymph for the rest of eternity." Achilles donned his war helm, his eyes shining with unbridled concern. "Stay safe, girl. I hope that my curse does not cause you too much grief."

With that, the spirit of Achilles returned back to the Styx, where he would be forced to give the same warning as long as there was someone who was brave, or stupid enough, to bathe in the most powerful river of the Underworld.

* * *

What the hell? That was the question I kept asking myself as I jumped through the shadows, finally landing on the Williamsburg Bridge. The Minotaur was lumbering toward us, wearing a bronze breastplate, swinging an omega-shaped blade back and forth in front of him like a blind man used his walking cane. And though I grew increasingly angry at the sight of so many Camp Half-Blood necklaces dangling from the base of his axe, I couldn't really focus on the wave of monsters storming in our direction.

Why the ever loving Hades did I see Apollo while in the River Styx? I absentmindedly summoned Epithymia and my armor and charged the moment Percy threw the Minotaur over the side of the bridge. It's not like I had any feelings for the god other than that of maybe an uncle or even a brother. But a lover? That sounded ludicrous, even to me.

Seriously, I was so distracted that I didn't even realize that a hellhound had tried to rip off my arm. In response, I'd merely just stabbed it in the jugular after it bounced off, its dagger-like teeth unable to penetrate my newly cursed skin.

 _Mistress!_ I heard Star cry from overhead, her white coat standing out like a sore thumb against the rapidly darkening sky. I was afraid that one of the archers would hit her. _Mistress, the others need your help!_

I turned around, watching as Ethan stabbed Annabeth in the arm, causing her to cry out and Percy to yell, "Get back! No one touches her!" while slashing an arc around them. Not to mention, my father finally decided to make an appearance, and I wasn't supposed to be here to witness the Williamsburg Bridge collapse.

 _Meet me on the other side of the bridge,_ I instructed, sparing a moment to scowl at Kronos before sprinting for the bridge's exit, using one of the stalled cars as a launch pad as I jumped off the roof of a car, landing on Star's back.

"Where do they need me most?" I asked Star, goading her to fly as fast as possible to where things appeared most dire.

 _That would be everywhere, Mistress,_ Star whinnied, dodging a flaming arrow before going up higher, disappearing into a low hanging cloud. But before I could decide where to go, I felt my phone vibrating in my pocket.

Here's a lesson, kids: don't fly on a speeding pegasus one-handed unless you want to learn what it's like to dangle over two hundred feet in the air.

Luckily for me, Star was a steady flier, so I was able to fish my phone out of my pocket and answer the call. "Hello?" I asked, taking a hard right past Fifth Avenue.

"Andy, thank God!" I heard Pete sigh in relief. "I've seen the news about what's happening in New York and just wanted to make sure you're okay."

"I'm in the middle of a war zone right now, Pete," I said through gritted teeth. "I'll call you back when I can."

For the first time in his life, I could tell Pete wasn't joking. "Okay. I'll talk to you soon."

He hung up, but a few seconds later, someone else decided to call. This time, I didn't get the luxury of asking who was calling me, a frantic Demeter girl shouting, "Andy, we need you ASAP! We've almost been overrun and…"

"I'll be right there," I assured, hanging up and shoving my phone back into my pocket. "To the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel we go."

 _Right away!_

By the time I dismounted Star's back, there were more monsters than demigods on the street, the Demeter kids desperately trying to hold off the army from breeching the tunnel. But the vines and ivy they'd grown had been cut down by the monsters, slashed at faster than the Demeter cabin could regrow.

Of the eight Demeter kids we originally started with, only five were left, one of them being Lucy. She wore a fierce scowl, skillfully brandishing her dagger as she kept a handful of _dracaenae_ from hurting one of her brothers, who was nursing a dislocated shoulder yet was still fighting with his other arm.

I sprang into action, taking out as many monsters as I possibly could, speeding time up around me so that no one could see me coming. As for the failing barricade, I threw a handful of seeds onto the ground and waved my hands, the asphalt and cement cracking from how violent the sudden growth of the seven large beanstalks blocking the tunnel.

Yes, beanstalks are real plants, but this is the first time I'd ever seen one grow to twenty feet tall.

"Lucy, watch out!" Katie shouted, shoving off a _karpoi_ before stabbing it in the shoulder, the grain spirit bursting into a cloud of parsley.

"Huh?" Lucy asked before gasping, a spear head protruding from underneath her ribcage. Within seconds, I'd cut down the Cyclops that had thrown the spear, scattering its dust underfoot before running over to Lucy, who'd collapsed to the ground.

Another daughter of Demeter, Miranda, ran over, frantically pressing her hands against the wound, muttering a prayer to her mother as she tried to staunch the bleeding. I threw a dagger at the last remaining monster, catching it right in the chest as I turned and ran towards Lucy.

She wasn't supposed to die, as far as I knew, so for the Fates to have changed something so quickly must've meant that someone earned the right to live in their eyes.

I took Lucy's hand into my own, meeting her tearful gaze with one of my own, trying my best to keep as calm and collected as possible. She'd just lost James, so I guess I could take solace in knowing she'd be reunited with her almost-fiancé, but she had become another one of my friends too, so there goes another one.

"Miranda, please stop," she croaked, a thin stream of blood trickling out the side of her mouth. "It's okay. I'll be okay."

Miranda shook her head vehemently, pressing her hands harder against the wound. "You can't leave me, Lucy. Please, don't go."

Katie placed a hand on her younger sister's shoulder, her own eyes misty with tears. Together, the three of us watched as Lucy's breathing ever so slowly came to a stop, the last word she ever uttered being, "James," her hand going slack in mine.

As Katie and Miranda held onto each other and sobbed, I closed Lucy's eyes, whispering a silent prayer to Hades that he would grant her safe passage to Elysium. Then I stood up, aggressively wiping Lucy's blood off my hand, trying to coax the remaining four members of the Demeter cabin to come back to the Plaza Hotel.

Then, for the third time that night, my phone began to ring again. "Hello?"

"Oh, gods," I heard Will muttering, his voice vibrating as if he were riding on a motorcycle of some sort.

Oh, right.

"Will, what's wrong?" I asked, fortifying the remaining vines in case any monster had the idea to attack during broad daylight. For good measure, I grew some poison ivy and pokeweed as well.

"It's Annabeth," he exclaimed, sounding extremely panicked. "The blade she was stabbed with was poisonous, and I don't know if I'm strong enough to stop it from spreading."

"You _are_ strong enough to heal her, Will. Look, I'll be there in a few minutes, but I don't think you'll need my help. Just hang on until I get there."

"Please hurry."

I sighed as I hung up the call and mounted Star's back again, exhaustion beginning to seep into my bones. If I could just remind conscious long enough to help Will, that'd be great, but we'll see.

"To the Plaza Hotel, please," I told Star. And we took off.

* * *

 **Whoo, chapter 50 guys, we made it!**

 **Don't worry, there's still so much left to this story, and I can't wait to keep exploring Andy's journey with the other demigods!**

 **I'd like to thank everyone who's reviewed, favorited, and followed my story. I love and appreciate every single one of you!**

 **So in honor of 50 chapters, I'll be responding to some reviews!**

* * *

 **Moonlight22qu: Your reviews never fail to make me smile! And yes, the battleship part was definitely my thoughts when reading the books. Glad you're enjoying the story!**

 **Horseyiscool: You're such a sweet person in your reviews, and I'm more than happy to answer any questions of yours! That being said, I don't think I ever fully described Andy's appearance. In my mind, she's 5'4"-5'6", has dark, curly brown hair, coffee brown eyes, and has perpetually tan skin even if she hasn't been in the sun for a while. She has multiple scars from training, fights, and such, most notably the claw marks on her upper right arm from Alecto. Thank you for reading!**

 **HeroesOfOlympusRules: First of all, I adore your username, and secondly, thank you for all your kind comments! You rock! And you got the FOB reference, yay!**

 **Divine Proctor of Skyrim: Thanks for your review, and I hope I update fast enough for you :)**

 **Graceheart of River Clan: Yup, yup, that's exactly what Percy did**

 **And to every other guest or comment I've missed (which is quite a few, sorry), thank you all for your extremely kind words! They encourage me to continue writing this story and others (which may or may not see the light of day, we'll see). Happy reading, and once again, I love you all! :D**


	51. Chapter 51

I scrunched up my nose in disgust as I walked out onto the balcony where Will, Percy, and Annabeth were. To add to the fact that we all reeked from last night's battle, it didn't help facts that the poison was causing Annabeth's arm to create foul smelling pus, permeating through the first bandaged someone had applied.

I winced when I saw the wound as it was much worse than the description in the book. See, in the past, the poison had turned the skin around the wound a nasty shade of green and hadn't gone past the shoulder, but now that shade of green ran the length of Annabeth's arm from her wrist to her collarbone.

"This isn't good," Will muttered, pouring nectar over the wound, causing Annabeth to writhe in pain, gripping Percy's hand so tightly that his fingers had a slight purple tinge to them. He then spread a silver paste over the wound and began singing a hymn to Apollo, hoping that it would help heal the wound.

"What do you mean by that?" Percy asked, unable to mask the panic, and pain, in his voice.

Will winced. "Maybe it's best if you-"

"I'm not leaving, Solace," Percy said with conviction, daring Will to try to kick him out otherwise.

The son of Apollo heaved a resigned sigh. "Don't say I didn't warn you. Andy, do you mind?"

"Of course not."

I shed my armor in favor of latex gloves, handing a pair to Will as well. I swore when I saw the black band tied around Annabeth's shoulder, the skin there an ugly combination of purple and green, making it appear almost brown in color.

"Who put on a tourniquet?" I asked myself, quickly undoing the restraint and letting it fall to the ground, cursing that someone had been so naïve as to do that. When a wound contains poison – like a snake bite, for example – you're not supposed to tie off the area with any attempt at a tourniquet unless you're trying to amputate that person's limb. The poison just sits there and festers, allowing it to destroy the tissue much, much faster.

As we worked, I kept singing hymns to Apollo seeing that my endurance could last longer compared to Will, who had almost passed out after a single hymn. But I knew that the sun god couldn't do much at the moment, probably more concerned with trying to slow down Typhon than worrying over a single demigod's wound when almost everyone else was injured as well. Still, I could try.

After another thirty minutes of nectar pouring, ambrosia feeding, and hymn singing, Will and I slumped to the ground in exhaustion, the poison finally ceasing its spreading. For good measure, I gave Annabeth a few sips of a healing draught I had, making sure that her body could expel the substance as quickly, efficiently, and safely as possible.

"You guys don't look so good," Percy said as he gently stroked Annabeth's hair, making sure none of the blonde curls were on her face. "Do you need me to call someone else for help?"

I struggled onto my feet, stifling a groan, blinking back black spots that danced in my vision. I bent down and helped Will up, who then started to sway on his feet, so I wrapped an arm around his chest to keep him upright.

"We'll be fine," I said, failing to keep the exhaustion out of my voice. Percy gave me a pointed look, one that said he didn't trust a single word that was coming out of my mouth right now. "Listen, I was going to get some shut eye anyways, and I'll drop Will off with Luke to make sure he gets some sleep."

"I like Luke," Will murmured in assent, his eyes already drooping shut, his head tucked against his chest. "Luke is my bestest best friend."

"All right," Percy relented. "If you say so."

"Hey, it was about time we gave you two some privacy anyways." I walked towards the door to the terrace, trying not to drag Will behind me like a ragdoll. "Good night, Percy, Annabeth. I'll see you later."

* * *

You know, if I ever have the pleasure of meeting Morpheus, I think I'm going to greet him with a sword to the face.

Seriously, instead of giving me helpful nightmares like the type that most demigods got, he gave me genuine nightmares, ones whose sole purpose was to scare me to death while I slept, causing me to jerk awake with my fist in my mouth to prevent myself from screaming bloody murder and scaring the others.

My wrists were bound with Celestial bronze chains, reminding me of the restraints I'd been forced into during my time of holding the weight of the sky, but instead of having any slack, I was directly pinned to a stone wall, unable to do so much as turn my hands without rubbing my wrists raw. I found my ankles stuck in a similar situation, meaning that I was literally hanging from a wall by just four points on my body, being forced to stay upright lest I wanted to dislocate my shoulders or my hips.

The room I was in only had one source of light: a single torch on the other side of the room, its light extremely faint, appearing more like a figment of my imagination that an actual fire. The air was muggy, reminding me of the Amazon Rainforest, where the humidity made the heat a hundred times worse than it actually was. Beads of sweat began to break out across my face, the temperature steadily increasing the longer I was awake, which made no sense to me as the size of the torch's fire never changed.

I tried using the shadows to help, but the second I did, I bit back a scream of pure agony, the blessed metal making me feel like my insides were on fire and then took a dive into acid. This was like the River Styx all over again, I thought to myself, trying to think of how I could get out of this mess.

Okay, so powers and weapons were completely out of the equation seeing that the former caused an unbearable amount of pain, and the latter wasn't even viable, seeing as where my bracelet was on my wrist was hidden behind the shackle pining me to the wall.

As I kept trying to think of possible escape plans, the room began to shudder, the sound of what I guessed to be large rocks violently crashing to the ground, splitting open from the sheer force of the impact. Then faster than I could blink, the darkness vanished, replaced by the entire room catching fire, as if I'd taken a plunge into the Phlegethon.

Other than my eyes having to adjust, I was unharmed, making me question whether my captor was aware of the fact that I was immune to all types of fire (Thank you, Hestia!). I waited for the fire to die down, revealing the form of a woman in the dirt, her face hidden behind some kind of veil, her eyes practically sewn shut.

Oh, schist.

"So," the woman spoke, her voice powerful enough to shake the earth even though her lips hadn't ever moved, still pressed in the same evilly serene smile that she first appeared with. "You are my granddaughter, the one that my children would love nothing more than to tear you apart."

"What do you want?" I spat, struggling against my restraints, wanting to lash out at this woman in every way possible. She had caused so much damage and destruction – which I was supposed to fix – but now I couldn't help but feel like she'd personally attacked me, especially after I'd grown so close to the people who she'd screwed over the most.

Though her expression remained unchanged, I heard the amusement in her voice when she said, "You're a feisty one, aren't you? The type who would rather fight than run away, who would rather give up her life for those she cares about?"

I ignored the hissing sound that started to fill the room, as if every poisonous gas created underneath the Earth's crust was slowly seeping in, replacing the precious oxygen I still needed to breathe.

"And what if I am?" I asked defiantly, glaring daggers at the dirt woman.

She lunged forward so quickly that I nearly missed it, her crumbling hand tight around my throat, causing me to gasp as I forced down the panic that came alongside asphyxiation. Her nails, which I think were made out of diamonds, dug into my skin, drawing blood – blood which I felt slowly flowing down towards my chest, blood which should've been inside me thanks to the Mark of Achilles. She threw her head back and cackled, a sound much worse than that of my father, showing me how this crazed lady drove her sons to aid in the murder of their father.

"This war with my son is only the beginning, granddaughter," Gaea hissed, giving my throat another tight squeeze as she spoke. "After him, I will join him as queen of the surface world, reclaiming the kingdom that was so unjustly ripped away from me."

"Didn't you decide to go to sleep?" I asked through gasps, somehow still taking in minimal amounts of oxygen even though I was sure Gaea was going to crush my trachea at any moment.

To add insult to injury, she slapped me across the face. "Lies, all lies! I will rule the Earth again with my children!" She tightened her grip even more; black dots began clouding my vision. Even with invincible skin, I could still die of suffocation if I couldn't catch my breath within the next thirty seconds or so.

"Such a shame that you won't be around long enough to see our glorious victory. That is, unless you decide to join me. Become my servant, and you will be granted powers beyond your wildest imagination, peace everlasting to you and all your posterity. What do you say, granddaughter?"

"Burn...in...hell..."

Then I felt my neck snap, and the world went dark.

* * *

"You look like crap," Luke told me through a mouthful of chips, holding the bag towards me as an offering.

"Gee, thanks," I said, waving away the chips, still feeling nauseous over last night's nightmare. As a result of that, I was constantly rubbing my neck, checking that my throat was still intact and not crushed like an empty soda can.

"Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, you know," Luke said, once again offering the chips, though this time it seemed like he was trying to force me to eat.

"I'm not hungry."

He frowned and set the chip bag aside. "But you need to eat, Andy. I saw how you fought yesterday, and if you want to perform just as well, your body needs some fuel." He hopped down from the bar – we'd been hanging out at the Plaza's restaurant – and wiped his hands on his torn up jeans. "I can get you something from the corner store, if you don't want to eat vending machine junk."

"Seriously, Luke, I'm fine."

"A yogurt it is then," Luke said with a nod, stopping only to pick up his sword before he ran outside, the sound of his footsteps quickly fading in the distance.

"Be careful," I whispered even though I knew he wouldn't hear me, glancing at the window only to see the rapidly setting sun. My best guess is that we had maybe another hour or two before my father's army would be back, and this time, they'd have reinforcements.

I groaned as I leaned forward in my seat, burying my head in my hands as I heard the sound of people coming into the lobby. I didn't even look up when I felt a wolf brush by my leg, sniffing at my pants for a few seconds before deciding he wasn't interested and moved on.

I know it sounds silly, but my throat still ached from last night. Honestly, I wouldn't have been surprised if I'd woken up with bruises around my neck, but thankfully I hadn't, or else gods knows what the Hunters would've done to the person responsible. Though I'd been forbidden to join the Hunt because of Zeus (he forbade me from ever becoming an immortal a long time ago for some reason...guess he wasn't aware that I didn't need him to do that), I'd spent a lot of time with Artemis's handmaidens, becoming close friends with some of them.

As for their lieutenant, Thalia Grace, well, I hadn't seen her yet, but I knew for a fact that she was here. None of the other Hunters would wear a tiara, black combat boots, and a Death-to-Barbie t-shirt at the same time, the majority of them preferring the traditional hunting attire of silvery camo pants, a black or navy long sleeve shirt, and a parka.

Speaking of Thalia, I saw her talking with Phoebe and Tanya, the three girls huddled over a map of Manhattan, whispering to each other in low voices while one of their falcons dropped off bags of snacks from the vending machine for them to eat. Handy little things, those falcons.

Eventually I stood up, determined to go outside to find Luke. It shouldn't be taking him this long. After all, the corner store was only two blocks away, and Luke was one of the speediest and craft sons of Hermes I'd ever had the pleasure of meeting. The only reason he wouldn't be back yet is if he'd been attacked, or worse, killed.

"What the Hades is that?" Phoebe exclaimed, pointing to the huge white flag towering over street signs, quickly approaching our HQ.

"I don't know," Thalia said through gritted teeth, pulling out her mace canister and giving it a quick shake, her spear taking its place. "But I'm about to go find out."

"I'm going to find Luke," I said, giving the Hunters a nod before heading to the door. "Oh, Thalia, one thing."

"Yeah?"

"Check if this meeting is under truce or not. No need to invoke more damage if it can be avoided."

"Fine," Thalia acquiesced. "But if this guy so much as moves a toe out of line, I'm going to blow him to smithereens."

I smiled at her sentiment and waved goodbye before running out onto the street, taking a hard left, the white flag still visible even though it was easily eight or so miles away from the Plaza. As I made my way to the corner store, I frequently stopped to move mortals aside, wanting to prevent as many casualties as possible. We were so focused on keeping demigods alive that it was hard to remember that there were also mortals we had to take care of during this fight, or else Kronos would kill them all without a single ounce of remorse.

Charming man, my father.

From the moment I laid eyes on the corner store, I knew something was seriously off. Luke and I had dropped by here last night to get some more supplies for the Apollo campers. Honestly, Percy and I were the only ones left who hadn't been hurt. Even Luke was sporting a nasty gash on his thigh, but after some bandages and ambrosia, he was able to walk around normally, albeit there would be a scar.

Anyhow, back to the store. Last night the store had been in perfect condition except for the damaged lock on the front door (you can thank the Stoll brothers for that), but now all the glass was shattered, the shelves were overturned, and the merchandise laid scattered all over the floor. On the wall of the store, in bright red spray paint, was a warning that read: _Ssssubmit or Ssssuffer!_ Seeing all the extra s's, I imagined that it had been a _dracaena_ who had done the tagging, even signing off with a little squiggle, which I guess was supposed to be a snake. I really wasn't sure.

It didn't take me long to summon Epithymia, my boots crunching against the glass with every step I took. "Luke?" I asked softly, my eyes scanning the room for potential threats. "Are you here?"

When I got no reply, I began standing up the shelves, hoping that I'd find Luke underneath one of them. I know that it sounds dark to think like that, but think of it this way: I'd rather find Luke flattened by cat food than killed by a monster.

I was quickly becoming frantic once I reached the final shelves, only to find that Luke wasn't under any of them. I ran behind the counter, checked in the supply closet, and cleared the bathroom, my fear quickly being replaced with anger when I found a message scribbled across the bathroom mirror in what was clearly blood instead of finding Luke.

 _If you ever want to see your boy toy,_ the message read, _you will meet me at Central Park with the rest of your pathetic friends. I can't wait to see what the Princess is made out of. ~ Hyperion._

"You just signed your death warrant, you creepy bastard," I exclaimed, picking up a fallen piece of piping and smashing the mirror, allowing for the bloody message to wash away in the growing puddle of water on the floor.

"Damn it, Luke," I muttered, running out of the corner store. "I told you to be careful."

* * *

That night, we were all at Central Park after one of Thalia's scouts had found that the majority of my father's army made a plan to march through the park to reach the Empire State Building. Off to my right, Percy was talking to Annabeth, his worry clear as day on his face as he kept glancing at her hurt right arm, which was so rigid that I would've thought she had a sling on.

"They're coming!" someone shouted, to which Annabeth responded, "Positions!" causing everyone to move to either side of a huge reservoir, forcing the enemy army to funnel through our lines if they wanted to reach us.

As for me, well, I was standing by the artificial lake, completely decked out in my armor with my Stygian iron hunting knives at my side. There was no way I was going to let the Titan of the east have a chance to use his light against me, not with my weapons, armor, or even the very lake which he would appear from. No, he'd get to learn what happens to those who mess with those I love.

Like I'd expected, Hyperion began charging across the lake. Percy and I rushed out to meet him, and I couldn't help the smugness I felt from the shock on his face. Guess he wasn't used to children being able to run across water.

"Where's Luke?" I shouted, forcing the water to lift me upward as I slashed towards his back, keeping the Titan's attention on me. Good, I thought, dodging his backhand and landing back on the lake's surface. If he paid attention to me, Percy would have an easier time to subdue him.

"So," Hyperion sneered at me, his eyes brighter than staring at the sun. I cast a wave of shadows over my eyes, allowing me to keep meeting his gaze without damaging my vision. "You're the little traitor, the one that held up the sky. And you," he slashed his sword down at Percy, but thankfully, his instincts allowed for him to deflect the blow with Riptide, "You must be the pesky sea brat that trapped Atlas under the sky again."

"It wasn't that hard," Percy said. "You Titans are just about as bright as my gym socks."

Hyperion snarled. "You want bright?"

He erupted into a column of flames brighter than anything even Apollo or Hephaestus could hope to muster, the heat so intense that despite the fact that I was standing in water, sweat drenched me from head to toe.

"Enough of this," I scowled, raising my arms to my side, the lake responding to my command. Percy had pulled his own tidal wave back, and as he quickly approached, I timed my movement with his, allowing for the water to splash Hyperion right in that smug face of his, dousing his light so that it was bearable to look at him.

He burst back onto the surface of the lake, but I wasn't done with him. "I guess you didn't hear me." I had a rope of water lash around his ankles and pulled, forcing Hyperion onto his knees. "WHERE IS LUKE?"

The Titan spat in my face. "You foolish, foolish girl," he laughed, only to be doused yet again with another wave – courtesy of Percy Jackson – causing him to start coughing up algae and leaves. "Did you seriously believe I would keep such a pathetic creature alive?"

"You kept Paul alive," I snarled. "You could've killed him that day at Goode, but you didn't."

"That was _you?"_ Percy shouted, fury shining in his sea green irises.

"Of course it was! Who else would be granted the honor of killing the man who made Perseus Jackson feel like he had a loving father?"

"You sick son of a biscuit," I growled, twirling my knives in my hand. With a single deft movement, I had the water suck Hyperion up and spit him out into the middle of the lake, watching with a sick sort of satisfaction as he struggled to his feet, gasping for breath.

Percy and I rushed forward, but all Hyperion said was, "Enough with your games. We fight on land."

Percy looked like he was about to make a snarky remark, but then Hyperion clapped his hands together, and the both of us were launched backwards about three hundred yards. Percy slammed into the ground, while I had the pleasure of slamming into a tree branch, knocking the thing clean off. Great, now the dryad who lived in that tree would want me dead, too.

I watched as Percy got to his feet, groaning. As for me, I had to roll my arms, cringing at the pulsating feeling in my shoulder from the way I'd landed against the tree. Hey, at least I was invulnerable, so I knew I hadn't broken any bones. A first, I know.

"I really _hate_ it when you Titans do that," Percy growled, lifting his sword up in order to deflect Hyperion's lightning fast blows. I rushed forward, taking Hyperion's flank, making it nearly impossible for the Titan to keep up the ferocity of his attacks.

It wasn't helping him any that a hurricane had formed around us, killing off any light the second he tried to shine. For good measure, I cloaked us in a thick veil of darkness, making sure only to keep it away from Percy's face as well as my own.

I was so concentrated on killing this monster of a Titan that I hadn't even realized when the satyrs began playing on their reeds, causing for thick, gnarled roots to erupt from the ground and bind to Hyperion's legs, lashing together as they wove around his body. Like a haunting melody, the music filled the air. I stopped down at the roots and placed my palms flat against the forming bark, expediting the process a tenfold.

"You cannot imprison me!" Hyperion shouted, his face a mixture of red and gold from how furious he was. "I am Hyperion! I am-"

But before the bark finished closing over his face, I froze time around the two of us, watching him squirm in agony. He sighed in relief, dialing down the harshness of the glow in his eyes. "I knew some sense would come back to you, Princess," he said, sounding way too comfortable for someone who was almost a tree. "Now, help me out of this place, and we can go join up with the others."

Pouring on all my charm (thank you, Aphrodite for those lessons), I gave the Titan a sly smile, batting my eyelashes in a way that had I been able to see myself, I would've been sick. "Of course I'll help you out of this mess, Lord Hyperion. But first, you need to help me."

He nodded as best as he could, what with most of his face now practically a tree. "Anything, Princess. I'll do anything."

I got as close to his face as I dared, bowing my head slightly, my lips mere millimeters from his ears. "WHERE IS LUKE CASTELLAN?" I shouted, taking great joy in watching at how hard he flinched, turning from a once proud Titan to nothing more than a sniveling coward.

"WITH KRONOS!" Hyperion cried, shaking violently from within the tree. "Please, Princess, end this suffering!"

"Oh, but of course. After all, you have kept up your end of the deal. Now let me uphold mine." I allowed time to flow again, pressing my hands back against the bark, hearing the satyrs and campers cheer as the bark finally covered Hyperion's face, which would now be preserved as a screaming tree for possibly centuries. "You did say end your suffering, right?" I said with a smirk, giving the tree one swift kick before stalking off, my bad mood only growing worse when I heard the sound of that stupid Clazmonian Sow.

I'm sorry Luke, I thought to myself as I surged forward into the army, cutting down anything that was a monster while only incapacitating demigods. I'd do my best to help him when I could, but right now, Percy had vanished on Blackjack's back to defeat the flying pig (damn, I can't use the saying "When pigs fly" any more), and we were still a crap ton of campers down from the past two nights' attacks.

I didn't stop until I felt someone tugging on my arm, yelling my name, begging me to stop. "Andy, _please,"_ I heard Will plead, gasping when I almost gave him a haircut on accident.

"Will," I gasped, pulling my arms back to my side, sheathing my knives at my thighs. "What are you doing? I could've killed you!"

"I know," Will said in a small voice. "But you needed to stop. Look." He turned me around, showing me the layer of gold dust that now covered the ground. There were no other monsters in sight. "They ran away a while ago, after they saw that you weren't going to stop."

I collapsed to my knees, suddenly feeling all the adrenaline fade from my body. The next thing I knew, I was crying, sobs shaking my body with much more intensity than as if I'd been thrown into freezing cold water.

"Please don't cry," Will begged, wrapping his arms around my shoulders, keeping my hands away from my knives. "It's okay, Andy. They're gone. You're safe."

"Oh, God, Will. He's gone." I tried to compose myself, but any attempts only ended with my crying even harder.

"Who's gone?"

"Luke," I sobbed. "My father has him. He's going to kill him."

Then, the battle having been won, I stomped back to the Plaza Hotel and passed out in the first empty room I found.

* * *

 **Hey guys! So I'm a JC at a summer camp, meaning that I'll have very little to zero internet access.**

 **I'll try to update when possible, but weekly updates will be near impossible. I'll try my best to update maybe once every two weeks, but no promises.**

 **Enjoy your summers!**

 **See you next update!**

 **~RainbowSpark18**


	52. Chapter 52

When I woke up, I was greeted by the sight of frizzy red hair and a quiet blond boy. I jerked up so quickly that my forehead slammed into someone's shield, and even though it really didn't hurt, instinctively I still said, "Ow," anyways.

After rubbing the sleep out of my eyes, I looked down at the foot of the bed, frowning slightly at the sight of four other people, tossed over one another in one big heap as if the person on the bottom had been an unfortunate player in football while the rest dogpiled on top of them.

I blinked twice, finally recognizing the newcomers in the room. Needless to say, I almost blew a fuse right then and there.

Patrick winced. "Hey, Andy," he said meekly, giving a small wave before returning to stare down at his shoes, rocking back and forth as he waited for my reaction.

"Hello, Patrick," I said, sighing in resignation. I knew it was too good to be true to believe that my friends would actually heed my warning, especially since I knew they'd been paying extreme attention to the news whenever anything about New York was brought up. Man, now I'm wishing I'd sent them to Greece for the summer. "What are you doing here? Better yet, _how_ did you get here? All the highways into Manhattan are closed and so are the airports."

Patrick blushed to the roots of his strawberry blond hair, rivaling the redness of Rachel's hair. "I brought him," Rachel said absentmindedly, brushing through her gnarled hair with her signature blue hair brush, like this was a normal conversation to be having. "I found them outside of Manhattan, got my pilot to let them in, and the six of us flew in together."

"And you didn't question why they were trying to get into a war zone?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

Rachel merely shrugged. "They said they knew you. That was good enough for me."

"Fair point." I swung my legs off the side of the bed and stood up to stretch, ignoring the audible pops that came from my back. "Do you still have your spear, 'Trick?" I asked, bending down to touch my toes, causing more of my spine to pop. Was it even possible to crack your entire spine?

"Yeah, I do," Patrick answered quickly, showing me the wrist watch as proof. "I haven't had to use this since our last training session in May."

"Good." Glancing down at my clothes, I realized how badly trashed they were, riddled with holes, blood, acid, burns, and God knows what else. Not to mention, I reeked. "Ew," I muttered, summoning my bag and pulling out a fresh set of clothes. "Listen, I'm going to take a lightning fast shower, but until then, I suggest you both go and talk with Chiron."

"Chiron?" Patrick asked, cocking his head to the side like a confused puppy.

"You know, the centaur guy we met last night," Rachel said, lightly nudging Patrick in the ribs with her elbow.

"There were a lot of centaur guys we met last night."

Rachel rolled her eyes. "The one that's the most civilized."

"Oh, that one!" A look of triumph danced in Patrick's baby blue eyes from making the connection. "I've got to admit, he's pretty cool. But why do we need to talk to him again?"

"To find a safe place to wait out this war," I said, removing my hair tie, allowing for my knotted curls to fall down to my shoulders. "I don't know how much longer this place will be secure, but I know for a fact that if either one of you go within five blocks of the Empire State Building, you will both be killed immediately."

They both blanched.

"Understood," Patrick squeaked. "But what are we going to do with the others?" He pointed to Joe, Andy, Pete, and Leah, all of whom were snoring like their lives depended on it. Not to mention the fact that poor Pete was at the bottom of the dog pile, his face awkwardly pressed into the sheets, completely unaware of the fact that Joe's big toe was about three millimeters from entering his mouth.

"I'll have Star take you wherever it is Chiron decides you should go to."

"Star?" Rachel asked, slipping her hairbrush back into her jeans' pocket.

"My pegasus," I answered. "Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to take a shower before all hell breaks loose again." I scooped up my clothes and walked into the adjourning bathroom, locking the door behind me just in case. I'd already learned the hard way of what happens if you don't lock the bathroom door (thank you Stoll brothers and Athena for that).

I heard Patrick and Rachel silently talking to each other as I stepped into the shower, eventually drowning out the pair's conversation in favor of completely zoning out.

* * *

I hadn't even had time to throw my shirt back on when I heard Will frantically banging on the bathroom door, shouting, "Andy, he's here! He's on his way to Olympus right now!"

I hastily got dressed, nearly ripping out half my hair as I pulled it back into a messy ponytail before throwing the door open, coming face to face with an ashen looking son of Apollo. He was sporting a new cut over his eye, most likely from an enemy's blade, but seeing that there was no trace of poison, I wasn't overly concerned. Still, like the overbearing mother bear I am, I pulled out a little alcohol wipe and a large bandage, quickly disinfecting the cut before slapping the bandage across Will's forehead, watching him stagger back in shock.

"Why haven't you left?" Will demanded, stamping his foot angrily. "You're supposed to be Olympus's last line of defense, but you're still here!"

I grimaced. "Will, I can't-"

"What can't you do?!" he yelled, throwing his hands up in the air. "I've been yelling at you all this time to be more careful, but now when we need you the most, _now_ you decide to be cautious?"

"That's not true," I started, only to be cut off by Will again.

"People are dying out there, Andromeda. Our _friends_ have died to defeat your father, but now after all the talk of how much you hate him and want to kill him, you get cold feet? What the Hades happened to the girl who I knew?"

"If you could just let me explain-"

"No!" Will clapped his hands over his ears. "You're a coward, Andromeda Collins! A pathetic, sniveling coward!"

I pursed my lips together. The Fates could kill me all they wanted later for what I was about to do, but I wasn't going to let Will believe that I was purposely choosing to stay away from Olympus, away from my friends on my own volition. God, if I'd been allowed, I would've killed Kyle the day he ran away from Camp Half-Blood and save us all the trouble, but as we all say: it's the Fates' design, not our own.

Reaching into my bag, I found the letter that the Fates had given me at the beginning of the summer (even though it had crumbled to ash the first time I read it, it reappeared in my bag a few days later for some reason), right after I'd come back from the mission that ended in James's death. Slowly, I pulled Will's hand away from his ear and placed the scroll in his grasp, stepping back should he respond negatively.

"What's this?" he asked, all the anger seemingly having vanished from his body. Instead, Will looked at the insignia stamped at the top of the scroll and the signatures at the bottom, standing stiffer than a wooden plank.

"The reason I'm not up on Olympus right now," I said, taking a seat at the edge of the bed. "As for the remaining army, well, we have enough forces to match them until my father's defeated."

"You really think we'll win?"

"Positive. After all, it's August 18th, Percy's sixteenth birthday."

Will looked like he was about to faint. With trembling hands, he unfurled the scroll, his eyes scanning the document multiple times before he finally set it down, shaking even harder now than he had when he first started reading.

"You weren't lying about the Fates, huh?" Will said shakily, trying to make a joke but failing miserably. "But this doesn't make any sense. If you got this right after James died, that means…"

"I was aware about the future."

"My father must've taught you how to do that – god of prophecy and all that jazz." Will began pacing back and forth. "But even then, most demigods get very fuzzy glimpses of the future, and sometimes those are extremely inaccurate. Not to mention that we usually don't see anything until the event is really close by. This scroll's had these things predicted for over two months now!"

I shook my head grimly. "No, Will. These actions have been ordained by the Fates for over nine years now. I just wasn't told until June about what I could interfere with or not."

"Interfere? What do you mean interfere?"

"Gods, Will, there's really no easy way to say this." I took a deep breath. "I'm from the future, sent back in time to change how things have been happening."

Will scoffed and rolled his eyes. "You can go into the future whenever you want, Andy. After all, you can manipulate time."

"That's not how that works," I explained. "While I can speed things up, I can't glimpse at the future. I'm not an Oracle. I don't see all the possibilities of what may or may not happen like the Fates can."

"What about the past, then? Can you travel to the past?"

I nodded. "The past is much easier to manipulate than the future. But coming here, to this year, took more power than anything I could've hoped to manage. The farthest in the past I've ever gotten is six hours."

"If that's the case, what year are you from then?"

"Well, I left my home in 2018. Actually, for your information, I was born in 2002."

Will blanched. "That's impossible! You and Luke are the same age, and that would mean being born in 1986. If you really were born in 2002, then you should be seven right now, not twenty-three."

"Magic," I said with a shrug. "Look, I'm not going to try to convince you to believe me; I'll leave that up to you. All I'm saying is that I'm not fighting my father in that throne room right now, because the Fates have forbade me from doing so. Unless I'm willing to sacrifice the fate of the rest of the world, which I am not."

"I…I think I need to take a seat," Will said, stopping dead in his tracks and sitting against the wall, his knees pulled up to his chest as he stared straight ahead, concentrated on the painting of what appeared to be Napoleon riding a rhino.

"I know, it's _a lot_ to process. I get it."

"Oh, gods," he groaned. "My best friend knows the future. That means…" Once again, Will began to blush redder than one of his father's sacred cows. "In the time that you're from…am I dating anyone?"

"Yup," I said, popping the 'p'. "Drew Tanaka is a very lucky girl."

Will now looked like he was going to vomit, and I couldn't help but laugh. He'd come out to Luke and me ages ago, and very few people actually liked Drew Tanaka, so to say that the look of shock on his face was priceless is stating nothing but the truth.

"You're joking, right?" He sounded horrified.

"Of course." I got up from the bed and seated myself right next to Will. "I can't tell you how, why, or when, but let's just say that your dreams from the Fourth of July will come true one day."

Will turned redder than his father's sacred cows, burying his face in his hands. "I always knew that conversation would come back to bite me in the _podex_ ," he muttered, pushing aside some of his blond bangs. Then he looked up, his gaze hard as he stared outside the window, where I could see smoke curling upwards from the Empire State Building. Lightning flashed around violently, but I knew this was Kronos's doing, not my father's.

Eventually, Will stood up and picked up a discarded bow and quiver, slinging both items over his shoulder. "Since you know the future," he said, bending down to lace up his sneakers, "do you know how much longer this should last?"

I took a peak at the horizon, the sky rapidly bursting with shades of pink and red and orange as dawn quickly approached. "Once the sun has risen, my father should be gone."

"That's good." Will nodded appreciatively. "But there's still another fifteen minutes to go. I think I'm gonna head back outside. Last I heard, the monsters are trying to rally for one final attack while your father invades Olympus."

"Well, then what are we waiting for?" I asked with a sly grin, summoning my sword. "Let's go!"

* * *

By the time Will, Luke (who had somehow managed to escape), and I had returned to a completely trashed Olympus, we were able to witness the three Fates whisking Kyle's body away, his hand hanging limply from his side, peeking out from underneath the white and green shroud that had been hastily made.

Luke grimaced and cringed, turning away from the sight of his dead half-brother, ignoring how Hermes stopped the Fates and gave Kyle a final blessing before the three ladies finally went to dispose of the body. I noticed that Atropos was holding an electric blue piece of thread, the other end of it tied to Kyle's exposed wrist.

"Oh, gods," Will muttered, also turning away from Kyle. Then he noticed Percy, Annabeth, and Grover and yelled, "Annabeth!" before running over, immediately beginning to work on her bad arm right as she passed out.

"She needs help!" Percy shouted, earning Apollo's attention.

And while I guess I should've been paying more attention to what was going on in front of me, I was distracted by Luke, who wouldn't stop looking around the room, as if he was expecting someone to attack him from behind.

Luke stopped a young nymph for a moment, asking, "Have you seen a Hunter of Artemis anywhere?"

I face palmed, berating myself for being so stupid. Thalia had been up here, too, and was probably still stuck underneath that statue of Hera. "Come on," I said, grabbing Luke by the arm and running towards the entrance to Olympus, which had already repaired itself thanks to some of the other goddesses like Hebe and Psyche.

"Thalia!" Luke exclaimed, throwing himself to the ground and clasping her hand in his own. "Thank the gods you're all right."

"Does it seem like I'm all right to you?" she sassed, gesturing to the huge statue pinning her legs against the marble. "It seems like no matter what I do, Hera is always out for my blood. Oh, hi, Andy."

I waved awkwardly. "So, um, I'm going to get some Cyclopes to help move this statue. Think you'll be okay for a few more minutes?"

Thalia groaned. "Please, hurry. I lost feeling in my feet ages ago."

Once I was a few feet away, I heard the pair begin to talk in whispered tones, clearly not wanting anyone to eavesdrop on whatever it was they had to say. And honestly, I didn't blame them. Luke was still hung up over Thalia ever since she joined the Hunters, and he hadn't seen her ever since before the quest to save Artemis, which had been a little under two years ago.

I returned about three minutes later with some Cyclopes from Tyson's army ("Peanut butter!" cheered the group), which allowed for Thalia to finally be freed from underneath the statue of Hera. Luke helped her sit up against a marble column, handing her a square of ambrosia.

Thalia waved it away, gingerly rubbing her legs. "I'm fine, Luke," she insisted, not taking the ambrosia no matter how many times Luke tried to give it to her.

"Mind if I check you out?" I asked, feeling myself burn from how awkwardly I'd phrased that. "I mean, medically, of course."

Both Luke and Thalia sniggered at my expense. "Sure," Thalia said, carefully extending her legs. "Go for it."

After checking that she hadn't fractured anything – thankfully, because leg fractures were some of the most painful – I gave her an ice pack to help with the pain. Thalia accepted the ice pack then staggered to her feet, swaying a little bit, causing for Luke to help steady her.

"Lady Artemis is going to kill you if she sees you near me," Thalia warned Luke as the three of us began walking towards the throne room.

"Or she'll turn him into a stag and have the Hunters chase you down," I added with a shrug, having witnessed numerous males be hunted down before. To clarify, I came along on these hunts and made sure that the Hunters never actually hurt the man, unless he was some first rate douchebag, before eventually undoing Artemis's magic, much to her annoyance.

"Maybe _you_ should be the human crutch then, Andy," Luke said, gently draping Thalia's arm over my shoulder, taking a couple large steps away from the two of us. We began laughing, to which Luke said, "Sure, go ahead and laugh at my suffering. At least there's no women hating god!"

Thalia and I just laughed harder, watching as Luke shook his head in exasperation and walked ahead, holding the door to the throne room open for us.

The three of us quickly shut up when we noticed that the gods were all watching us, as if they had been waiting for us to arrive before doing anything. "Sorry," I said quietly, carefully leading Thalia so that we were in line with Percy, Annabeth, Grover, Tyson, Luke, Will, Nico, and Clarisse. The rest of the campers that weren't being treated for their injuries were standing off to the side, smiles plastered on all their faces.

I even saw Katie Gardener smiling at Travis Stoll, who was currently trying to pawn off some of the stuff he'd stolen to an Aphrodite boy, which was pretty unusual seeing that she was always screaming at him.

Silena Beauregard was wrapped up in Charles Beckendorf's embrace, a sad smile gracing her beautiful face as she glanced over towards the Demeter cabin, where Lucy no longer stood. Then her eyes flickered to her sister, Drew Tanaka, who was bound in Celestial bronze handcuffs and had duct tape over her mouth. Drew had been the other spy for my father, and once Silena and Clarisse had found out, the two nearly killed her. Only Beckendorf and Chris Rodriguez kept Silena and Clarisse at bay, promising the girls that Drew's justice would be better served by the gods.

The remaining Apollo campers were the quietest of the bunch, and though many wore small smiles, you could still see the tears that stained their faces if you looked hard enough. Honestly, I didn't blame any of them. In two years' time, the cabin had decreased from sixteen to ten, five of whom had died in battle while the other had joined Kronos. And now Will was the senior counselor at the age of thirteen, despite the fact that there was still one girl, Olivia, who was sixteen. But she refused the position, so Will, being the second oldest, stepped up and became the leader of cabin seven.

Zeus cleared his throat, drawing my attention away from the campers and back towards the gods. "As for my brothers," Zeus said, and I'd realized I'd missed half of what he said. Oh, well. I didn't need to hear another speech about how the gods were superior to the Titans. "We are thankful, erm, thankful for the aid of Hades."

Hades nodded, wearing a smug look on his face. Nico quickly joined his father, sitting at the foot of his hastily erected throne. He patted Nico on the shoulders, eliciting one of the biggest smiles I'd ever seen Nico wear.

Off to my left, I heard Will sigh dreamily, his eyes glazed over as he stared at Nico. I smiled to myself, making sure that neither boy noticed my expression.

"And, of course," Zeus continued like his pants were smoldering. Hmm, that gives me an idea, but not now. "We must…um…thank…Poseidon."

"I'm sorry, brother," Poseidon said. "What was that?"

"We must thank Poseidon," Zeus growled. "Without whom…it would've been difficult-"

"Difficult?" Poseidon asked innocently.

"Impossible," Zeus said. "Impossible to defeat Typhon."

The gods murmured agreement and pounded their weapons in approval.

"Which leaves us," Zeus said, "only the matter of thanking our young demigod heroes, who defended Olympus so well – even if there are a few dents in my throne. Thalia Grace, daughter…" – Hera didn't seemed too thrilled about that introduction – "step forward." Thalia limped forward and bowed towards her father. "I promise you aid in filling the Hunters' ranks."

Artemis smiled. "You have done well, my lieutenant. You have made me proud, and all those Hunters who perished in my service will never be forgotten. They will achieve Elysium, I am sure."

She glared pointedly at Hades.

He shrugged. "Possibly."

She glared at him some more.

"Okay," Hades grumbled. "I'll have Andy streamline their application process."

Thalia beamed with pride. "Thank you, my lady." She bowed to the gods, even Hades, and then limped over to stand by Artemis's side.

"Tyson, son of Poseidon!" Zeus called. Tyson looked nervous, but he went to stand in the middle of the Council, and Zeus grunted. "Doesn't miss many meals, does he?" Zeus muttered. "Tyson, for your bravery in the war, and for leading the Cyclopes, you are appointed a general in the armies of Olympus. You shall henceforth lead your brethren into war whenever required by the gods. And you shall have a new…um…what kind of weapons would you like? A sword? An axe?"

"Stick!" Tyson said, showing his broken club.

"Very well," Zeus said. "We will grant you a new, er, stick. The best stick that may be found."

Seeing that I'd read this part of the book enough times that I had everything memorized, I found myself zoning out again until I heard Zeus say, "Andromeda Collins, fellow daughter of Kronos, come forward."

In an almost trance-like state, I took a step forward and bowed towards the gods. Behind me, the campers started tittering nervously, whispering "She really _is_ Kronos's daughter" and "How is she still alive?"

"Rise, child." I straightened up, keeping my gaze level with Zeus as I waited for him to speak. "You have done remarkable things for Olympus, Andromeda, both during and outside of this war. As such, the Council and I have agreed that we shall grant you a single gift."

"A gift?" I asked nervously, wringing my hands together. "I'm not worthy of something like that. Offer a gift from the Council to someone like Percy, or Annabeth, or Nico, or Grover, or Luke, or anyone else but me."

Poseidon threw his head back and laughed. "This is exactly why we're offering you a gift, Andy. Even after all these years that you have served us, you have never asked for anything in return. Go ahead, sister. Allow us to repay you."

I nodded weakly and inhaled deeply, clearing my mind. It didn't take long for me to make up my mind. "Do you swear on the River Styx to grant me my wish?"

"We do, if it's reasonable."

"It is, I promise. I'd like you to release all the peaceful Titans from their prisons – Calypso, Leto, Mnemosyne, Phoebe, Rhea and such." I drew a shaky breath and scrunched my eyes shut, not wanting to see how the others were so obviously judging me for my wish. "For centuries, you have locked up peaceful Titans out of fear, but that's not acceptable anymore. If any one of these people I mentioned wanted to take over, they could've supported Father, but they didn't. That is why I implore you to let them go."

Zeus's face darkened considerably. "Of anything you could ask, you ask to free Titans? Are you daft, girl?"

I clenched my jaw. "I don't appreciate being called daft, _Zeus,_ especially since Athena was my teacher growing up. I know exactly what I am asking, and since it's a reasonable request, I'm holding you to your oath just as you hold me to mine."

Zeus scoffed. "If that's the cost of keeping you under control, consider yourself released from your oath. You are no longer of service to Olympus."

The uproar occurred instantaneously. I counted to four seconds before the rest of the Olympians, including Hades and Hestia, had weapons poised at Zeus, as if daring him to keep talking badly about me. I looked down at the ground, suppressing a feeling of numbness so severe that I hadn't realized how much it hurt to be disowned by my own brother. Sure, he was an utter ass, but it still hurt nonetheless.

"Not another word from you," Poseidon hissed, glaring furiously at his younger brother. He then turned back to me and offered a gentle smile. "We shall release the peaceful Titans, Andromeda. You have our word."

"Isn't that right, _father?"_ Apollo seethed, the tip of his arrow dangling precariously close to Zeus's jugular. Although a stab wound to the jugular wouldn't kill a god, it would definitely hurt and be a pain to recover from.

"Fine," Zeus spat, and the rest of the gods calmly returned to their thrones. "But for your defiance, girl, you will be punished." He picked up the Master Bolt and moved back, preparing to throw.

"Father, no!" Athena shouted, slapping the bracelet at her wrist, her own Aegis, the _original_ Aegis, appearing in her hand. She leapt forward, wanting to take the blow of the impact, but it was too late.

Though I could withstand most electricity, this was a god's symbol of power, and even though I had control over electricity, there was no way I could reroute this blast out of my body. People screamed – maybe I screamed, too – and the scent of burning flesh filled my nostrils. Huh, I guess the Achilles curse doesn't extend to death by electrocution.

The last thing I remember was falling to the ground and staring at a pair of sky blue eyes, my name being yelled repeatedly, before the world faded to black.

* * *

 **Sorry about the long delay! This is the first free moment I've had in 3 weeks!**

 **Hope you enjoyed!**

 **Have a great day!**


	53. Chapter 53

"What the Hades did you do to her?!" I heard someone scream, causing me to cringe. My head throbbed painfully, like someone had brought a sledge hammer against my temples and tried to split my skull open.

"Oh, stop your complaints. I didn't do anything to harm her."

"You just _shot_ the Master Bolt at Andy! I seriously doubt that's not harming her!" someone else shouted.

I don't know how, but I managed to open my eyes, flinching away from the brightness of the throne room. Although my arms were felt as solid as Jell-O, I pushed myself upright, ignoring my body's protests from the minimal movement. Was it just me, or was time suddenly moving much slower?

And before you ask, no, I wasn't doing anything. It's not like I could've manipulated time at the moment, anyways, not unless I wanted to pass out again.

"Ugh, my head," I groaned, screwing my eyes shut and keeping my head tucked against my chest. "What happened?"

"I told you I didn't hurt her!" Zeus said, though the relief in his voice was completely palpable. Had he zapped me with his symbol of power without knowing what would happen? My gods, I knew my request would anger him, but a near murder seems a little too much, don't you think?

And that made me wonder if the gods had ever gotten to Percy's request. If my request had earned me a near death experience, I was terrified to see how they were going to react to Percy's. Even though the world was still spinning and there was no way I could stand up without falling back down, I fiddled with one of my charms, prepared to leap in front of Percy the way Athena had done for me if it came to that.

Then I felt someone throw their arms over my shoulders, burying their face into the crook of my neck. I began patting their back awkwardly, unsure of how to react to the, "Thank Olympus that you're safe."

Wasn't it just because of Olympus that I just became a human lightning rod?

"Get off of her, brother," I heard Artemis say, and despite my eyes still being closed, I could still see the scowl she was wearing. "This is extremely unbecoming of you."

"I don't care," he pouted like a petulant child, tightening his grip on me so that I could feel his fingers digging into my flesh. Not the most pleasant feeling. Apollo pulled away, and I felt him brush some of my mangled curls, which were probably sticking up around me like a lion's mane, out of my face, his touch impossibly delicate.

"Hey, you," Apollo said softly, barely above a whisper. "I'm glad you're alive. For a moment…well, I don't mean to be a Debby downer, but…"

"I should be dead," I said bluntly, finally opening my eyes, keeping them open this time. I suddenly realized that it had been Apollo's eyes I'd seen right before I passed out. Speaking of which, my friends were probably worried, but to my surprise, when I looked around, the throne room was empty except for me and the rest of the Olympians. "Where is everyone?"

"The party ended ages ago," Mr. D said with a grunt, haphazardly turning the page of his wine catalog. "Those brats should be back at camp by now."

" _Dionysus,"_ Athena said in an annoyed voice, her fingers tapping rhythmically against her Aegis.

"Yeah, yeah." Mr. D waved off the goddess of wisdom's warning, enthralled about this month's featured wine: Pinot Noir.

"Anyhow," Apollo said, clearing his throat and grabbing my attention. "After Father tried to kill you-"

"That was not my intention!"

Apollo rolled his eyes. "Whatever you say, Father. Anyways, the Fates stopped us from sending you with Hades to the Underworld, of course, as a resident this time, not a servant. We'd thought that all the life had been drained from you, courtesy of one Master Bolt, but the Fates assured us that you were asleep and that we were to keep an eye on you until you woke up."

I nodded, suddenly grateful for the three ladies preventing the gods from trying to bury me alive. But I knew I must've been near dead from the fact that neither Hades nor Apollo could sense life within me while I was out.

So that brought up the question: what exactly had Zeus's plan been if not to kill me? And how was this supposed to be a punishment? Because if there's anything I know about the Lord of the Skies, he enjoys setting up his punishments to torment his prisoners as much as possible – like what he did to Prometheus.

"So then what _was_ your intention, brother?" Hades spat, glaring daggers at Zeus, the shadows in the room swirling around him in agitation. Even the damned souls of the god's clothes were restless, incessantly moving across the fabric, rippling like waves in a pond.

"Whatever it was that you did was meant to be a punishment," Poseidon pointed out, sounding just as furious as Hades. "And clearly the punishment wasn't death, so go on, out with it. Or did you just want to see what your glorified shock stick could do to someone with the Curse of Achilles?"

Zeus swallowed thickly, like someone had just forced the world's largest pill down his throat. Even Hera seemed downright murderous towards her husband, giving him such a severe scowl that Kronos himself would be proud. Not to mention that Hestia, who could probably have been a goddess of peace from how adamant she was to stay out of conflicts, looked like she wanted to throttle her youngest brother with her bare hands, while they were on fire.

"Your punishment, er, it is to…" Zeus cut himself off, scanning the room only to realize that the only god in his favor was Ares, who was licking his lips with anticipation and cleaning his nails with a razor sharp knife. But even then, Ares and I respected each other, so I don't know how much Ares really wanted me punished or if he just wanted another fight to break out.

"Well?" I asked, hating the feebleness of my own voice. It sounded like the electricity had fried my voice box, much to my disgust.

Zeus hung his head in defeat. "I was never going to punish you, Andromeda. What I did is force a gift upon you, one I knew you would turn down if given the option."

 _Uh oh,_ I heard George and Martha mutter, slithering around Hermes's caduceus, while the god was gripping his throne's armrest so tightly it was a miracle he hadn't ripped the leather off yet. Apollo was just as ticked, his body shining with excess light to reflect his anger, which made him nearly impossible to look at.

Thankfully, I'd learned my lesson ages ago and fished out my pair of Apollo-grade sunglasses, strong enough to stare at a blazing sun god without permanent damage to my eyes.

" _What…did…you…do?"_ Hera said through gritted teeth, about to tear out Zeus's throat.

"Oh, heh, funny story…"

" _ZEUS!"_

"All right, all right; calm down, woman!" Zeus threw up his hands in surrender. "I made Andromeda a goddess – there, the big secret has been revealed!"

All the strength drained out of my body again, and I wanted nothing more than to have Hera wipe my mind, wanting to forget that this conversation had ever happened. Me, a goddess? When had that _ever_ been part of the plan? I didn't want to be a goddess, restricted by the Ancient Laws, unable to do the one thing I'd been brought here to do.

"Take it back," I growled, staggering to my feet, suppressing any feeling of vertigo that I was starting to develop. "I don't want to be a goddess. _Take it back!"_

"It is already too late, I'm afraid-"

"That's a load of Minotaur dung!" I shouted, anger bubbling up in my chest. "Why would you do this to me? I didn't ask to become a goddess! You _forbade_ me from becoming a goddess!"

Shockingly, no one could give me an answer, varying looks of sadness, pity, and annoyance on everyone's face. I felt my scowl deepen.

"Fine," I muttered, angrily pushing aside my matted curls, pulling my hair back so aggressively that I broke my hair tie. I just pulled out another one from my pocket and was more careful this time. "So I'm a goddess. Where are the Fates?"

"Why do you ask?" Athena inquired, her gray eyes burning with sympathy as well as fury. Whenever she turned her steely glare towards her father, she smirked at the way he'd flinch away.

"We are going to have a talk, those ladies and I."

Zeus set his mouth into a thin line, but from the way his eyes kept scanning the room, I knew he was still nervous about how the others were going to react. "Well, don't you want to what your domains are?"

"Not really, no."

"Might as well find out now," Hades said with a shrug. "It's better than finding out from the Fates."

A collective shudder passed through the room – except for me, that is. I'd spent way too much time with the Fates to be afraid of them like other people were. But, to please the gods, I relented, praying that I didn't get something that would prohibit me from going into the mortal world. If that was the case, I made a promise myself right then and there to find a way to rid oneself of immortality.

And while I knew Zeus could strip away someone's godhood, like the few times he'd done it to Poseidon and Apollo, I seriously doubted he'd do the same for me, seeing that he was the one that gave me my immortality in the first place.

"Andromeda Collins," Zeus began in a way too ceremonious way. "You are now the goddess of time."

I raised an eyebrow at him. "You're not pulling my leg, are you?"

Zeus faltered. "Uh, no…?"

"Brother," Poseidon threatened, the spearheads around his trident glowing with a faint greenish light. "Tell her the whole truth, or so help me gods…"

"So mutinous today, aren't we?" Zeus grumbled, shaking his head in disappointment. "Your full titles are the goddess of time, language, wolves, snakes," – I suppressed a shudder – "friendship, and…" He mumbled something so quietly that I wasn't able to make it out.

"I'm sorry, what?"

"And the future. There, happy?" Zeus asked, casting a look to the rest of the council. Those who'd been glaring the most – Apollo, Poseidon, Athena, Artemis, Hades, and Hermes – relaxed a little. Aphrodite clapped her hands in delight, causing for rose petals to start falling from a cloud that'd appeared over her head.

"Does that mean I can go down to the mortal world?"

"Err, that is a question best saved for the Fates. Speaking of which, here they come right now!"

The Fates set down their basket and tools, walking forward towards the gods, casually swinging wooden clubs in their hands, which caused most of the gods to pale considerably. As for me, I smiled, knowing that those clubs were only used for intimidation. Their _real_ clubs, the ones they used if it became absolutely necessary for them to fight, were covered with spikes from a Manticore, venom from a basilisk, and coated in barbed wire.

Who knew wood could be such a terrifying weapon.

"Hello, Andy," Lachesis greeted. "We're glad to see that you're awake."

"How long have you had this planned out?" I demanded, crossing my arms over my chest in annoyance.

"Ever since you stepped foot on this planet," Clotho answered.

I felt all the blood drain from my face. "What are you _doing?"_ I hissed, keeping my voice as low as possible. "I thought I was supposed to keep quiet until after you-know-when."

"That was the original plan," Atropos agreed. "But things have changed since then. We have other things in store for you, Andy, once your work is done here."

"Oh, joy." I rolled my eyes. "So what am I supposed to do now, tell them?"

"We'll leave that up to you, dear." Clotho reached into the folds of her weathered robes and produced a black box with a little gold lock keeping it shut. "Your mother told us to bring this to you. Right now, you won't need it, but in the future, you will."

"What is it?" I turned the box over in my hand, frowning when I didn't find any markings. "Where's the key?"

"That'll be revealed in time. Now, as for your previous question about your mission, even as a goddess, you are allowed to do your job. We have made sure that the Ancient Laws don't apply to you."

"Oh, thank the gods." I pocketed the box into my bag, setting it right on top of my books, just so I wouldn't forget that I had it.

"Uh, Andy?" Hermes said, lifting his hand like we were in a classroom, and he was waiting to be called on by the teacher. "One question: what the Hades are you all talking about?"

"Go on," Lachesis goaded, giving me a gentle shove forward. "It is time that they learnt the truth."

I sighed deeply, biting my lip before I started to speak. "I am Andromeda Lilliana Collins, and I was brought here from another planet to change the future."

* * *

When I arrived back at Camp Half-Blood, many of the campers stared at me like they were looking at a ghost. At one point, an Iris girl ran up to me and pressed her hands against my shirt, watching the black fabric ripple to a neon green before squealing and running away.

I didn't ask any questions and instead headed for the Big House.

Imagine my surprise when I saw Patrick on the outer porch of the Big House, playing a game of Pinochle with Chiron and two other satyrs. I almost laughed at the absurdity of the situation. But what shocked me even more was the fact that running from the volleyball courts, with another satyr chasing after them, were my other friends: Leah, Pete, Joe, and Andy.

"Hey, wait up!" their satyr cried, shrieking when he tripped over the sand pit, face planting into the dirt.

"ANDROMEDA LILLIANA COLLINS, WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?" Leah screamed loud enough for all of camp to hear, running into me with enough force to send us both tumbling to the ground. Then I felt her body shaking as she cried, hugging me tighter.

Of course, instead of helping us up, Andy, Pete, and Joe sat down and hugged Leah and me like we were in a doggy pile in football. It didn't take long for Patrick, who had jumped over the side of the railing and landed in a bush, to race over to the rest of us, settling in right between Pete and Leah.

"Hey, I'm fine," I said softly, rubbing circles into Leah's back as she sniffled, trying to regain her composure.

"Thank God for that," Joe said with a nod. "All we'd heard was that you'd been blasted by Zeus."

"And from the way those two boys spoke, we thought you'd died," Pete added.

"Which two boys?"

"You know, the blond ones," Andy said. I turned toward Patrick, raising my eyebrows quizzically. "No, not Patrick. There was one who had a scar on the left side of his face, and the other had a bow slung over his shoulder. There was another boy with them, too, one who was dressed in all black and had a skull on his shirt. I like that kid."

I grinned. "Yeah, that was Luke, Will, and Nico. Have you met them?"

Leah shook her head. "Chiron's told us that we should be careful about talking to other…demigods." She said the word as if it were taboo. "According to him, we're not even supposed to be here, but since we were with that Rachel girl, he let us through. We woke up as soon as we passed through the border."

I felt the smile melt off my face. "Is Rachel still here?"

Pete frowned. "I think so." He turned to Patrick. "Where did Chiron say she was going after she nearly died?"

Patrick choked on air from how nonchalantly Pete had talked about death. While near death situations were a part of my everyday life, I knew that that wasn't the case for most mortals, including my friends. "She ran off with some other blond kid into the Big House. Chiron said that the guy was Apollo, but I don't know…he just seemed so _human_."

"Yeah, that's Apollo for you. If you ever run into him again, he's usually in his teenage form. A word of advice: if he asks you to listen to his poetry, politely decline and run in the other direction."

"Isn't Apollo the god of poetry, though?" Joe asked.

"It doesn't mean he's good at it." I got to my feet, and the rest of my friends followed suit. "So, how much of the camp did you get to see?"

"We got as far as the stables," Pete said, his eyes glazed over with delight. "Those pegasi are amazing, Andy! Especially the one that's pure white!"

I chuckled softly. "Yeah, that's Star. She's under my care." I then slung my arms over Leah and Joe's shoulders, slowly dragging them back towards the thick of things. "Come on. I want to introduce you to my other friends."

* * *

Although my mortal friends hadn't been allowed to stay for the remainder of camp, Chiron extended their welcome if they ever needed anything at all. That made them all very happy, and we all promised to come back to camp during school vacations, which Chiron responded to by smiling.

As for camp, well, the new cabins were already underway, what with various groups of Cyclopes having come from Poseidon's forges to help bring Annabeth's sketches to life. I smiled as I saw Nico sitting on the grass in front of the obsidian blocks that were the foundation of what would soon become the Hades cabin, Will sitting next to him, filling the silence as he prattled on about gods knows what.

And I know you're all dying to know about what happened to Percy and Annabeth. Well, as written by Rick Riordan, the two were officially dating now after having been thrown into the canoe lake by a bunch of campers a few days ago. And now that Annabeth was in charge of designing both the new cabins and how to rebuild Olympus, you would always find Percy trailing behind her, a stupid smile on his face as he watched his girlfriend work.

I ended the summer session by spending more time with Luke, who seemed kinda bummed that Thalia hadn't left the Hunters after the war had ended like he initially thought. But he seemed to be more at peace with her decision now, even able to talk about her with a kind of fondness that I hadn't heard ever since she joined the Hunt.

"What about you?" Luke asked on the second to last day of camp, the both of us sitting at the end of the dock. My head was resting in his lap, and he was absentmindedly playing with my hair, highly amused with watching how my curls sprung back into place whenever he attempted to straighten them. "What are you going to do now?"

"Finish college, I think," I said, focusing on the lovely colors in the sky as the sun quickly raced to meet the horizon. "After that, I'm not sure. And you? Do you plan on going back to school?"

Luke was silent for a bit. Then he said, "I think I'm going to go visit my mother. Maybe now that the spirit of Delphi has moved into Rachel, she's better. At least, that's what I'm wishing for."

I smiled softly, hoping that Salina had heard Luke's wish.

The two of us just stayed at the docks until the sun set before we finally got up, wanting to return to our cabins before having to deal with the cleaning harpies. And Luke, being a gentleman, decided to walk me back to cabin three, where I could already hear Percy's snores from outside of the door.

"Goodnight, Luke," I said, only pausing when I felt him grab my wrist.

Luke's face was a bright red, clearly visible even though it was a moonless night, and he wasn't facing Hestia's hearth. "Uh, this is going to be a weird question, but can you change your age, Andy?"

I felt my own face burn. "Um, yes, I can. Why?" Then realization hit me like a brick to the face. "Oh, _oh,_ got it." Within seconds, I was standing in front of Luke as a twenty-year-old, the same age that he was.

Then I felt his lips against my own, soft and sweet and compassionate. And as much as I'd said I never wanted to date, I couldn't deny the butterflies in my stomach, making me feel like a giddy school girl and like I was going to throw up at the same time.

A few moments later, Luke pulled away, breathing heavily, his pupils dilated much wider than I'd ever seen them before. "Goodnight, Andy," he said, giving me a final lopsided smile before he ran off to the Hermes cabin.

I then slipped into cabin three, unable to wipe away the smile on my face. After checking that Percy hadn't seen or heard anything, I changed into my pajamas and got into bed, the smile never melting away even as I pulled out my copy of _Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire_ and spent the rest of the night reading.

* * *

The next day, we said goodbye to all the summer campers, including Percy and Annabeth. I'd managed to talk to the both of them before they left, ruffling their hair, and smiling stupidly at the way their hands were intertwined.

"Stay safe, you two," I said, pulling them both into a tight hug. "And if you ever need anything during the school year…"

"You're always there," Percy and Annabeth said in a chorus, smiles resting on their faces. "We know."

"Ah, go on," I said, joy bubbling in my chest at the sight of them so happy together. Forgive me for the way I was acting, but come on, I'd been watching over these two for almost ten years now, so sorry for being so ecstatic that my OTP was now canon. "You make me feel like a proud mother."

Annabeth beamed with pride while Percy ducked his head, his face a bright shade of red before Annabeth began suggesting that they should be heading out before the harpies decided to eat their things or Argus left them behind.

I waved goodbye to them, watching as they raced down Half-Blood Hill towards the tallest pine tree, sighing contentedly. I really hope those two enjoy themselves while they can, because all hell was going to break loose within the next four months, when Hera would see it as a grand idea to do a forced exchange between the two camps with Jason and Percy.

I was broken out of my reverie when I felt someone's hand in mine, lacing our fingers together. It didn't take me long to figure out who it was, leaning into Luke's chest as we watched the rest of the summer campers hop into one of the three vans that would take them back into the city to go home.

"I can't believe the summer's already over," Luke said, drawing circles on the back of my hand with his thumb. "So many things have happened; it's crazy, isn't it?"

"Agreed," I said, my gaze never leaving the vans until they were nothing more than mere specks in the distance. Then I sighed, pushing my frizzy curls out of my face. "Where's Will?"

Luke frowned slightly. "Last I saw him, he was at the volleyball court with Kayla, but…" We turned to look at the volleyball court, which was completely deserted, other than the single volleyball that was resting by the base of net's poles. "Oh, there he is," Luke said, jabbing a finger in the direction of the newly built Hades cabin.

Will stood out like a sore thumb in front of all the black, obsidian stone, his blond hair like a beacon of light compared to all the shadows. Not to mention the fact that on either side of the door leading into the cabin were torches burning with Greek fire, further creating an air of darkness around the building. But Will didn't seem to mind, standing on the doorstep to cabin thirteen, his hand poised to knock on the door but never moving.

"What's he doing?" Luke asked, beginning to walk towards Will. "Do you think he's in trouble with Nico?"

I scoffed. "If anything, Nico's in trouble with Will. Nico got caught using his Underworld magic, and Will went all mama-bear, super overprotective mode on him. He just about strapped Nico to a bed in the infirmary."

Luke winced, probably remembering the time that Will _had_ strapped him to a bed in the infirmary after Luke had broken a few ribs and refused to rest. This had been when I'd been out of the country – thanks to the gods – so I couldn't have helped expedite the healing process.

"Wait, wait, wait." Luke tugged on my arm gently, pulling the both of us behind a bunch of trees so that we still had a perfect view of the Hades cabin, but no one from the cabin could see us. "I think he's going to do it."

Will then finally knocked on the door, his hands hanging limply by his side as he waited for a response. I'm not gonna lie, I was holding my breath in surprise, wanting to see how this turned out. I mean, I knew the two would end up dating by the end of next year, but still. Rick never wrote about all the times leading up to their relationship, so to say I was curious was an understatement.

It didn't take long before the door to the cabin opened, revealing an extremely haggard looking Nico. His clothes hung limply off his skeletal frame, and even from this distance, I could clearly see the dark circles under his eyes. Or maybe it was my sight was due to my newfound godhood, I'm not really sure.

"Come on," I told Luke, nudging him out from behind the trees, in the direction of the dining pavilion. "Let's give them their privacy. Plus, it's almost lunch, and I'm absolutely starving."

"Fine," Luke said with a sigh, clearly wanting to continue his spying on our friend. "But only because today is chicken patty day, and you know how much I love chicken patties."

I pressed a kiss to his cheek before I took off running, yelling, "You can't catch me!" as I went, earning a laugh from Luke as he tried to catch up.

Needless to say, I had the perfect rest of my summer.

* * *

 **Hi guys! Apparently tomorrow is the 1 year anniversary of this story on this website!**

 **Thanks for sticking around!**

 **I love and appreciate all of you!**


	54. Chapter 54

"Andromeda, why are you all of a sudden so interested in learning about the giants?" Chiron asked. I'd been so absorbed in searching the camp's library – one of the forbidden rooms in the Big House unless you were granted permission – that I bumped my head against the shelf, swearing under my breath even though it really hadn't hurt. Somehow I still had the Curse of Achilles, even as a goddess, which really didn't make sense to me, because now I really couldn't die. Oh well, I still stayed clear of my mortal point, just in case.

"Well, history tends to repeat itself, right?" I asked, absentmindedly rubbing the spot on the back of my head that had bumped against the shelf as I stooped down to pick up the books I'd dropped.

"Yes," Chiron agreed. "But only if we fail to learn from our mistakes."

"My case in point." I set my pile of books down onto an old, decrepit table, coughing as a cloud of dust flew into my face. God, my next goal at camp would be to clean this room if it took me a thousand years.

I picked up the copy of _Mythology Through the Ages_ and flipped to the chapter following the first Titan war. Though the ink had faded considerably from the original printing, the writing was still legible enough to make out.

"'After the war with the dreadful Titans,'" I started to read, pointing to the paragraph I was looking at, "'there was a time of peace as the Olympians finally came to power. The original Olympians, the six children of Kronos, were now in charge of rebuilding the Earth as they sought fit. This included repairing the damages that came from the Titans as well as aiding the mortal race from completely dying out from the sudden shifts in the environment as other Titans went into hiding, disrupting the natural order.

"'However, this period of peace and reconstruction would not last long. Though it took several hundred years for the original Olympian council to expand from six to twelve (excluding Hades and Hestia), that was all the time needed for another more ancient and sinister force to stir, wanting nothing more than to revenge her fallen children.

"'And so the Earth Mother awoke from her millennia of slumber, finding solace not in her husband, whose murder she had orchestrated, but in the third eldest primordial, Tartarus. Together the two sired a new breed of monster, one more fearsome and crueler than the Titans ever were: the giants. There were twelve original giants, each one made to oppose an Olympian, and as they had children, those giants came to oppose other gods and goddesses as well.'"

Chiron then abruptly shut the book, his face ashen as he pulled it into his lap, tucking it beneath the blanket that covered his fake legs. "No more of that, child," he said, unable to keep the worry out of his voice. "We have just come out of a war against Father. Do you really believe the Earth Mother would want to strike again so soon?"

"I saw her during the war, Chiron," I said. "She killed me in a dream of mine after I refused to pledge my allegiance to her."

He swore in a mixture of Ancient Greek and Latin, seeming more unnerved than I'd ever seen him before. "This does not bode well, then. To kill a giant-"

"You need demigods and gods working together, I know."

Chiron shook his head in disbelief. "This will not go over well with Lord Zeus. But I must inform him of this threat, anyhow. It is imperative that we begin preparing immediately."

Just as he started to wheel himself out of the room, I caught onto the handles of the wheelchair, stopping Chiron. "Wait," I said, ignoring the look of concern flashing in my half-brother's brown eyes. "I don't want you to tell Percy or Annabeth about this yet."

"And why ever not? Annabeth is one of the smartest demigods at camp. If she has time to learn about this threat-"

"Chiron, I respect you a lot, you know that. But I need you to trust me on this. As much as we both know Annabeth's help would be invaluable, please remember that she's only sixteen and just came out of a war that ended with some of her friends dead. Not to mention that she and Percy only recently started dating, earning some well-deserved peace. Let them enjoy this time for as long as possible."

Chiron scratched at his beard, deep in thought. "Confound it all," he murmured, aggressively shelving the book back into the nearest empty space. "You are correct, Andromeda. We should give those two time to be teenagers. Gods knows they haven't been forced to grow up fast enough as it is."

"I'll tell them when this becomes a bigger threat," I promised, taking out the copy of _Mythology Through the Ages_ again, shoving it deep into my bag. "But in the meantime, I'll do my own research. Plus, there's somewhere I've got to be."

Chiron raised an eyebrow. "And where would that be?"

"My cabin. I'm late for my date."

A wide smile broke out across Chiron's face. "I wasn't aware that you were seeing anyone, Andy. Who's the lucky boy?"

My face was redder than a ripe tomato. "Luke Castellan," I squeaked, apprehensively fiddling with the hem of my Camp Half-Blood shirt.

"Ah, a good boy, that one. He's extremely lucky to have you. Now, on you go, then! You mustn't keep him waiting!"

I said a meek goodbye to Chiron, my face still burning as I ran out of the Big House, ignoring as the Stoll brothers wolf-whistled at me. Those two were probably up to no good right now, but I couldn't really be bothered at the moment, because Luke was standing outside of cabin three completely dressed up while I was still in jeans and a t-shirt.

"I'll be just a sec," I told Luke, barging inside the cabin and immediately beginning to toss my clothes to the side. Thankfully, I'd had the foresight to leave my dress out on an empty bed, so I wasn't agonizing over what I was going to wear.

My dress was blue and white and went down just a little past my knees. It was also sleeveless, meaning that I threw on a white cardigan on seeing that it was chilly out, the feeling of fall coming into full effect now that we were in the end of November. And seeing that I was a goddess, I simply willed my hair into perfect ringlets as I laced up my blue Converse.

"You ready?" Luke asked through the door.

"Yup," I said not a moment later, opening the door and smiling at Luke. He was dressed in a blue polo, the shade of blue matching my dress, and khaki pants with light brown loafers. He'd gone so far as to gel his hair, and something told me that that had been Silena's doing (she was spending the weekend at camp with Beckendorf, because there was some project that he was working on here).

Luke licked his lips and opened his mouth several times, but no words ever came out. I just laughed at his expression before taking his hand into my own and shadow-traveling us to his favorite seafood place (sorry, Percy) by the beach.

We spent the rest of the night at the beach, our shoes long forgotten in the sand as we ran in and out of the water, splashing each other and laughing and generally having a good time. We even got to see some sea turtle eggs hatching, which I thought was super cool, and I knew Luke would never let me live down my excitement of that for the rest of my life.

"I'm so lucky to have you," Luke told me at one point, sleeking back his sopping wet hair so that it wasn't hanging in front of his eyes.

"And I'm so glad to have you."

Then we kissed under the moonlight, like something straight out of a rom-com, but of course something had to come along to ruin what would've been a perfect night.

* * *

It wasn't until I was a hundred percent sure Luke wasn't going to try to sneak into my cabin tonight that I left, slinging my backpack over my shoulder as I returned to the Big House for the fifth time today. Chiron and Mr. D were waiting for me on the porch, their grim expressions made so much darker by the shadows cast on their faces from the flickering light overhead.

"I got your message," I said, holding up the note that had been on my bed as proof.

"So, you know what you are to do, then?" Chiron asked, his tail flickering nervously.

I sighed. "Unfortunately, I do." I handed Chiron an envelope of my own. "Make sure Luke gets this, yeah? And if he asks, tell him…tell him that I'm okay and that I'll be back as soon as possible."

"Enough with the sentiments, Andrew," Mr. D said irritably, clearly unhappy with having to be awake at such an ungodly hour. "Come on, before Father decides to punish all of us even more."

Mr. D placed a hand on my shoulder, and suddenly we were standing in the middle of the throne room. Mr. D gave one last annoyed grunt before stalking off to his throne, where he promptly put his head in his hand and immediately fell asleep, snoring softly as some of the grape vines wrapped around his chest, keeping him from falling out of his seat.

"Welcome back, Andromeda," Zeus said, his mouth set in a firm line as he stared at me. The rest of the throne room was vacant, save for Zeus, Hera, and the sleeping Dionysus. "I see that you have received my correspondence."

"I have," I said, doing my best to keep my annoyance hidden. All I wanted was to spend some more time with my boyfriend before having to fight in another war, but even as the goddess of time, I sincerely doubted time was on my side. "And if I could put in my two cents, I think that this decision is completely counterproductive, harmful even."

Zeus's eyes flashed dangerously. "I have my reasons for doing this, Andromeda, reasons that you could not even begin to comprehend."

"Oh, really?" I crossed my arms over my chest. "Try me."

Zeus turned to Hera for approval, to which she merely nodded, seeming like she was half-asleep as well from the way that she was still wearing her bunny slippers and didn't seem too concerned about it.

"As I'm sure you know, history tends to repeat itself, especially in cases like these. And if I'm right, then that means that a worse enemy is coming, one I'm hoping to postpone as long as possible." Zeus then grit his teeth. "But thanks to my blasted son's Oracle, this prophecy is coming to pass, and we have less time than I originally anticipated."

"Yeah, I know what's coming." I rummaged through my bag, pulled out _Mythology Through the Ages,_ and threw it at Zeus. "Turn to page five hundred and seventy-two, second paragraph."

Both Zeus and Hera quickly skimmed the page. Hera merely raised an eyebrow, looking at her husband in an _I-told-you-so_ sort of way, while Zeus had a vein bulging from his forehead, appearing like it was going to burst at any second.

"If this is truly coming to pass again, we must act," Hera argued. "We must not be caught off guard like last time."

"This book is rubbish," Zeus announced, tossing it aside, hitting Mr. D square in the chest. But the god was so sound asleep that he didn't even flinch. "No, my decision is final. I am closing the gates to Olympus. There shall be no contact between Olympus in the mortal world until Grandmother Dearest goes back to sleep, alongside those monstrosities of hers."

"That's preposterous!" Hera exclaimed the same time I yelled, "You're crazy!"

"Closing Olympus isn't going to do anything to force _her_ back to sleep!" I argued, fed up with Zeus's paranoia. "All you'll be doing is playing right into her hands! She wants us to be afraid, unorganized, so when the time is right, she will kill us all one by one. If _you_ want to stay up here, fine, but I will be down there fighting alongside my friends."

"You'll do nothing of the sort! I forbid it!" Zeus roared.

"You have no power to forbid me from doing anything, not anymore," I seethed. "Not since you made me a goddess, one who isn't restrained by the Ancient Laws. That means I am not bound to you or any of your poorly made decisions. I will not sit around and allow my friends to go up against these beasts like lambs to slaughter. Goodbye."

I vanished from the throne room positively fuming, wanting to get as far away from there as possible. But I guess I must've overshot the landing (I was still getting used to this apparition thing that gods did), because the next thing I knew, I was standing outside of a large mansion in the middle of the woods.

And while normally I would've just hopped into the nearest shadow, I heard the familiar sound of an arrow being shot from a bow, the sound of glass breaking shattering the silence of the forest. I walked towards the sound of the broken glass, stopping behind a bush and peering through the leaves.

Standing in front of me was a Chinese Canadian boy (only reason I knew I was in Canada was thanks to the flag waving above the roof of the house) of about fifteen-years-old, with a quiver slung over his shoulder and a bow in hand. He had set up glass plates, vases, and cups on red pedestals and was shooting at them, the arrow piercing straight through the center of whatever his target was.

I had a sneaking suspicion about the identity of this boy, which was confirmed when I heard an old lady yelling, "FAI ZHANG!" at the top of her lungs, stomping out of her house so fiercely that I could practically see the steam coming out of her ears. "Stop this ridiculous behavior. It is beneath you." Then she sighed exasperatedly and tucked a strand of her gray hair behind her ear. "Clean up this mess, Fai. Dinner is almost ready. Then you must prepare for your journey."

"Yes, Grandmother," he said begrudgingly, setting down his bow and quiver into a red wagon with the rest of the unbroken china.

I'd meant to visit Frank a _long_ time ago, but somehow, I was never able to pull it off. So, seeing that this was the perfect opportunity to introduce myself to the Zhang family, I headed back for the front entrance of the house. But before I knocked, I waved a hand over my left forearm, revealing my now six lines underneath the omega. I even pulled out a letter I had from Jason for situations like these – talking to unaware demigods, I mean.

But as I finally went to knock, the door swung open, revealing the old lady who'd just been yelling at Frank minutes earlier. "Yes?" she asked impatiently, tapping her foot in annoyance. "How can I help you?"

"Hello, my name is Andy Collins, and I'm with the Twelfth Legion." I rolled up my sleeve, revealing the tattoo signifying my place in the legion. "I've come to discuss with you about your grandson."

Grandmother Zhang scowled and shut the door behind her. She then grabbed me by the arm, dragged me onto the other side of the porch, and pushed me down into a bench. She took a seat on the other side of a little table, which held some board games with everything written in Mandarin, so I had no idea what they were.

"Talk, girl," Grandmother demanded, her eyebrows so arched that they practically disappeared into her hair line. "Why is the legion interested in my grandson?"

"We were informed that he is coming of age, so I was sent to investigate the situation. Assuming that he is still unaware of the truth, I will leave if you wish, but if you would like him to come to Camp Jupiter, I shall escort him."

"Huh." Grandmother set her jaw. "Why is it that my grandson gets a guide when most don't? Don't take me for a blithering idiot, girl, just because I'm old doesn't make me senile."

"New policies, ma'am," I lied. "Ever since the monsters have somehow gained the ability to reform quickly after death, the praetors have been sending some of us as guides for potential members of the legion. The wolves should be arriving shortly as well, but seeing that I left earlier, I've gotten here first."

This seemed to convince Grandmother Zhang. Though she was still watching me out of the corner of her eye as she returned into her home, calling for Frank in a mixture of Mandarin and Canadian French. However, she eventually said, "Well, come in, girl. It's not going to do my grandson any good if you aren't well-fed for this journey."

Dinner was a quiet affair with the Zhang family, the silence only being disrupted once when Frank asked for me to pass him the salt shaker. Other than that, we ate in quietly, and I was staring down at my plate the entire time, wanting to avoid Grandmother's penetrating stare. Seriously, it was like she was trying to see into my soul.

About an hour later, the wolves arrived, howling from the front porch to grab our attention. "It's time to go," I told Frank gently, thanking Grandmother Zhang for her hospitality before standing up from the table, waiting for Frank by the front door.

Frank quickly tugged on another fleece, thermal pants, and his hiking/snow boots. He then hefted his pack, his bow, and his quiver before patting his chest, relieved when he felt the cloth surrounding the little stick of wood that was his lifeline.

"Goodbye, Grandmother," Frank said stiffly, appearing as if he wanted to give the older woman a hug, but judging from the severe look still on her face, he decided against it, choosing to merely nod at her instead.

"Goodbye, Fai," she said, to both of our surprises. She then ushered the two of us out of the house and shut the door behind us. And though I was pretty sure she was trying to inconspicuously spy on us, I could see her silvery hair through the front window, her hand resting against the window, as if she was reaching out to touch Frank.

"Ready?" I asked, petting the head of one of the wolves as it rubbed up against my leg, having recognized me.

"As I'll ever be, I guess," Frank said with a shrug, once again reaching into his jacket to touch his lifeline.

"Do you have any letters from your grandmother? As in, if she gave you some, do you have them with you?"

"I do."

"Great, then let's be on our way." I gave the wolf one final pet. "Okay, lead us," I instructed the wolves, and they took off towards the forest, their footprints breaking through the crisp snow on the ground.

"Where are we going?" Frank asked as we began to walk into the forest, trying to keep up with the wolves. "Do you know who my dad is? And if my dad's a god, does that mean I'm a demigod?"

"We're going to the Wolf House. No, I don't know who your dad is. Yes, that makes you a demigod." I shook off the snow that had landed in my hair before it could melt. "Any other questions?"

"What's your name, and who's your godly parent?"

"My name is Andy Collins, daughter of Saturn."

Frank looked at me weirdly. "I thought this place where we're going is only for demigods. Wasn't Saturn a Titan?"

"Camp Jupiter, which is your final destination, is a safe haven for all children of all immortals, as long as they swear to stay loyal to the gods and to the legion. I swore my allegiance to the gods, so despite my father, I'm still a member of the legion. Also, Camp Jupiter is home to legacies, the sons and daughters of demigods."

"Oh, that makes sense."

Frank fell silent after that. I merely brushed off some more snow off my clothes and trudged forward, hoping that Reyna and Jason would be able to understand why I was personally escorting a demigod to the Wolf House instead of letting him forge alone as tradition stated.

* * *

It took Frank and me a good two weeks to get from his home in Canada to Sonoma, California – a trip that would've taken all of ten seconds if I'd been allowed to shadow-travel the two of us. But if Lupa had found out, she'd be even less inclined to accept Frank, despite the fact that she'd known that I tended to help kids reach the Wolf House for the past several years.

Once we got to Sonoma, and I saw the Wolf House, I stopped and told Frank, "This is as far as I go. If Lupa allows you to move on from this place, I shall see you again at Camp Jupiter. Good luck, Frank Zhang."

"Hey, Andy," Frank said, sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck. "Thanks for everything. You were really helpful in making this trip."

I gave him a reassuring smile. "It was my pleasure. When you reach Camp Jupiter, we can have as many Q&A sessions as you'd like. And, if you really want, I could make those chicken quesadillas you liked so much."

Frank's stomach growled, and he turned pink. I just laughed and pulled an apple from my bag, pressing it into his hand. "Eat before you go in there," I advised, finding some packaged turkey jerky and tearing it open, tossing handfuls of jerky towards the wolves. "I hope to see you soon, Frank."

And with that, I took my leave, retreating back into the forest until I was far enough away from the Wolf House that I could disappear into the shadows, reappearing back at Camp Half-Blood. I'd stop by Camp Jupiter within the next two weeks, but seeing that it was just around the time that Percy was about to go missing, I wanted to be there for Annabeth.

Needless to say, I'd already warned Hera against the forced exchange between the two boys, offering to be the liaison that linked the two camps myself, but she was steadfast in her decision, no matter what I said. It seems that she was just as stubborn as Zeus at times, although her plan still worked the first time, so I guess if I could help lessen the impact of it, then that would be great.

Anyways, once I returned to Camp Half-Blood, I was met with someone tackling me into a hug. I blinked twice before recognizing the person to be Percy, a sad smile on my face as I hugged him just as fiercely, guessing that he had at most two more days until his disappearance. After all, he would meet up with Annabeth on Tuesday, and he'd go missing the following day.

And while I knew that he would be safer during those eight months than any other time in his life, I couldn't help but be upset by the fact that he'd never get that time back. Sure, I could manipulate time and all, but it's not the same thing knowing the future and reliving the past as getting to experience the present.

"Hey, squirt," I said, ruffling his hair, much to his annoyance. "Welcome back. Finally on break, huh?"

Percy nodded. "Thank the gods for that," he chuckled, running a hand through his hair in an attempt to make it neater. "I think all my brain cells have died after those semester exams. If I'm asked to do anything involving rational expressions in the next three weeks, I'm going to go drown myself."

"But you can't drown?"

"You know what I mean." He laughed again. "Hey, so do you know when Annabeth will get here?"

"I think she said she'd get here by Tuesday," I answered, biting my lip, nervously fidgeting with my bracelet. I looked down at the ground, unable to meet Percy's eyes. "From the last time I spoke to her, she's very excited to come back to camp."

"That's great," Percy said, sounding distracted. Then I felt his hand on my shoulder. "Are you okay?" he asked, his voice full of concern, his eyes shining with empathy. I looked away.

"I'm fine," I lied.

"Did Luke do something to hurt you? Because if he did, I swear to the gods-"

I managed a weak chuckle. "No, Luke hasn't done anything to me, Percy, but I appreciate your enthusiasm to kill my boyfriend."

"Oh. Then what's wrong?"

I bit my lip so hard, I drew blood. I swore as I hastily wiped the blood away, praying to God that Percy didn't notice that I bled gold ichor instead of red blood. I hadn't told anyone of my goddess status, and I didn't want to just yet. Not to mention that that shouldn't have happened, assuming I still had the Curse of Achilles at the moment.

Instead of answering his question, I said, "Make sure you spend as much time with your friends and family as you can. And call your mother every night, too."

Percy gave a nervous laugh. "You're scaring me there, Andy. You make it sound like I'm going to die."

I didn't answer.

"Wait, I'm going to die? Andy, what the Hades is going on?"

"You're not going to die," I said quietly, abetting that concern quickly. "But it's a suggestion I hope you take seriously."

Percy blanched, but before he could ask any more questions, I turned and ran away, doing my best to ignore the sound of my name being called as I headed for the forest. I didn't stop until I found the creek that marked the boundary line in capture the flag, sitting down by the banks, guilt bubbling up in my chest as I stared at the running water.

That had been much harder than I expected it to be, especially having noticed the unmistakable fear on Percy's face the longer that the conversation progressed. Seriously, this forced exchange was so unfair to everyone involved, in my opinion, but Hera had strongly opposed the idea of my being the link between the two camps, so I obeyed to avoid her wrath. As much as Hera was a thorn in the side at times, you didn't want to get on her bad side, goddess or not.

I spent my time by making friendship bracelets, finding comfort in the repetitive motion of weaving the strings together. By the time the signal for dinner sounded, I'd finished six bracelets, one for Luke, Nico, Will, Percy, Annabeth, and Grover. I could've made more if I was doing generic fishtails or candy stripes or chevrons, but I'd added little personal details into all of them. For example, I weaved a gray owl into Annabeth's bracelet, resting on top of an orange and white striped design. Grover got a tree, Will a sun, Nico a skull, Luke a caduceus (which was damn near impossible to make), and Percy a trident.

At dinner, I gave Percy, Will, and Luke their bracelets, as Grover, Annabeth, and Nico hadn't arrived at camp yet. I knew I'd see Annabeth and Grover within the week, but I wasn't too sure about Nico, and I seriously doubted Hades would hold onto a friendship bracelet for his son, even if I'd been the one to make it.

After dinner, Luke walked me back to my cabin, the both of us deciding to sit on the stone steps and just talk instead of going to the amphitheater, where the Aphrodite and Apollo cabin were performing their renditions of Christmas songs, despite the fact that Christmas was still a good three weeks away.

"So," Luke said as he patted the spot besides him for me to sit. "What was that all about with Percy? He was pretty shaken up, you know. He asked me for drachmas and a prism so he could call his mom tonight."

"I had a dream," I said, drawing in a shuddery breath, a shiver running down my spine. "I saw Percy and Annabeth, the both of them so happy by the campfire. The next thing I know, Annabeth is crying and screaming for Percy, but he's nowhere to be found – not in his cabin, with his mom, or anywhere else on camp. She prayed to Athena for guidance, but Athena didn't answer, and neither did any other god, for that matter."

"Did you ever see what became of Percy?"

"No," I said, shaking my head miserably. "Do you see why I'm so adamant that he spends time with his loved ones?"

Luke nodded slowly. Then he reached over and pressed a chaste kiss onto my forehead, pulling me close into his embrace. I relaxed slightly, smelling the familiar scent of his body wash through his clothes, calming my fried nerves.

"He'll be fine, Andy," Luke reassured me. "It's going to take a lot more than a dream to kill Percy Jackson. You'll see."

Oh, Luke, I thought to myself. If only you knew what we were up against this time.

* * *

 **Hey, y'all, it's been a minute since I've last updated.**

 **Sorry about the delay. Some crazy stuff has been going on in my life recently, so writing's had to take the back burner for a while.**

 **Thank you all for being so incredibly patient.**

 **Hope you enjoyed this chapter! Thanks for reading! :D**


	55. Chapter 55

Over the next few days, I basically became Percy's shadow, trying to spend as much time with him until he'd be stolen away by Hera, which would be within the next eight hours. I knew he thought I was smothering him, but he didn't try to push me away once he saw the look on my face, remembering the warning I'd given him earlier.

Annabeth didn't seem to mind my company, either, as long as I wasn't staring at the two whenever they kissed, which seemed to be a handful of times every hour. It wasn't full out kissing, sometimes being forehead or cheek kisses, but there was the occasional real kiss, the one that most people don't appreciate being interrupted by others.

"What book is that?" Annabeth asked me after lunch, having found me hunched over _Mythology Through the Ages_ at one of the picnic tables in front of the cabins. I placed a bookmark on the page I was on and handed it to Annabeth, allowing for her to skim the table of contents.

"Interesting," she said, running her fingers against the intricate designs on the spine, flipping to the chapter on the Titans. "Wow, these pictures are really accurate. I wonder who the illustrator is."

"No clue," I said with a shrug. "I don't even know the author. But after seeing how accurate the information was in the Titan and Olympians sections, I decided to read the rest of the book. Doesn't hurt to learn more about the messes that exist in the world."

Annabeth pursed her lips together as she turned to the large section labeled _Ancient Greek Heroes._ "Do you mind if I borrow this book after you?" she asked, her eyes never looking up from the page as she began to read the story of Achilles.

"Not at all. I think you'd enjoy it, actually."

"You two are crazy," Percy said, shaking his head in exasperation, though he was still smiling. "I can't imagine reading a book that big for fun. That thing is easily, what, a thousand pages long?"

"It's actually fifteen-hundred pages long," I replied, checking the number on the last page of the book.

"That's fifteen-hundred pages longer than it needs to be. Not to mention, the size of the print would be murder on our eyesight, what with us being dyslexic and all."

Annabeth winced. "You're right, Percy. I was only skimming the page, and my head already hurts from the letters floating around. But that won't stop me from reading it, not if it'll give me the chance to learn something new about the gods."

Percy sighed. "I'll make sure to have a ton of Tylenol on hand once you're in possession of the book."

Annabeth smiled and pressed a kiss onto his cheek. "That's so sweet."

"Alright, you two," I said in amusement, unable to hide the smile on my face. "I'm going down to the beach with Luke. I'll see you guys at the campfire tonight."

They waved goodbye as I packed up my things. As I stowed my book away in my bag, I turned the star brooch three times to the right, hearing the soft click of a lock sliding into place before quickly turning it back into a charm. Usually, I didn't lock my bag, but seeing that I couldn't afford for my book to fall into the wrong hands, it was finally time that I started using higher security measures.

Once again, Luke and I spent the rest of the day at the beach, splashing around in the frigid water, laughing as what started as splashing each other turned out into a full out soaker war. At one point, the Stoll brothers and some other Hermes kids showed up with water guns, and all hell broke loose as freezing streams of salt water were shot every which way.

I didn't have a water gun, instead using my own powers, which Luke said was cheating. "Nah," Connor Stoll had said before shooting Nelson Randolph in the neck, causing the younger boy to squirm as the cold water trickled down his shirt. "All's fair in love and war!"

"Traitor!" Luke yelled at his younger brother as I dropped a massive salt water bubble over his head, completely dousing him from head to toe. I had to bite back a laugh from the amount of seaweed that was now covering Luke, giving him the appearance of a swamp monster.

Instead of getting angry, Luke merely swept the seaweed out of his hair and face, allowing for him to look somewhat more normal. "Oh, you're going to pay for that," he chuckled darkly, and I yelped, turning to run away from my boyfriend.

Eventually Luke caught up to me, and I cringed as I felt the squelch of the seaweed squishing against my skin.

"Ha!" he laughed victoriously. "How's it feel to be covered in seaweed?"

"Not fun," I laughed, pulling off some seaweed from my shirt. "Can you believe that some people actually pay for seaweed wraps in spas?"

"The only thing that should be wrapped in seaweed is sushi," Luke said, shaking his head back and forth like a dog, flinging the seaweed out of his hair and onto the sand. I helped him get the rest of the seaweed off, until all that was left was excessive amounts of salt clinging to his skin.

"Come on," I said, grabbing Luke's hand and dragging him back towards the cabins. Though he tried to hide it from me, I noticed a near imperceptible grimace on his face. Still, seeing that we were both so happy at the moment, I decided I'd ask about it later. "We should get changed for the campfire tonight."

"Do you really want to go to the campfire tonight?" Luke asked, raising an eyebrow at me. "I haven't seen you go to a campfire since the end of the summer session."

Subconsciously, I began to twist my newest clay bead between my fingers, feeling the carvings of all the names of the fallen demigods from the war against my father. "I have a bad feeling about tonight's campfire," I said. "This may be my last chance to do something about it."

"What are you going to do?"

"I'll let you know when I figure it out."

And with that, I rushed into cabin three to get dressed for the campfire, which would be the last time I saw Percy for the next eight months.

* * *

"Andromeda, wake up," I heard someone hiss, aggressively shaking my shoulders.

I gasped as I opened my eyes, instinctively clutching at my bracelet as I almost summoned a weapon, only relaxing once I saw that it was only Hera. She was dressed in a very mortal-like fashion: a plain white t-shirt and jeans and black sneakers. She'd even done her hair differently – instead of her famous plaited strands, her hair was pulled into a messy ponytail. If it weren't for her eyes or the ring on her finger, Hera could've easily passed off as a mortal woman if you didn't really know her.

"What's going on?" I asked through a yawn, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes.

"The exchange is happening tonight," she explained, gesturing towards Percy, who was so sound asleep that he was unaware of the fact that he was practically face first in a puddle of his own drool. "It must be tonight."

"What do you need me for?" I yawned again but got out of bed anyways, blindly shoving on my sneakers and throwing on a sweatshirt over my old pajama shirt.

"I need _you_ to make the exchange."

" _What?"_ I whisper yelled, suddenly much more awake. "This was _your_ plan!"

Hera scowled. "I'm aware of that, but at the moment, I'm much more occupied with Jason Grace than Perseus Jackson. I need you to move Perseus to the special room in my palace. You know exactly the one I speak of."

I felt all the blood drain from my face. "But isn't Olympus closed? Surely the other gods would notice-"

"Not _that_ palace, Andromeda. The one in the north, where no one would dare to look for Perseus Jackson."

I swallowed a lump in my throat. "A-As you wish."

"And one other thing." Hera fished something out from her pockets and handed me a little vial, no bigger than my pinkie. "Drain Perseus of his memories and place them in here. I wish for you to keep them safe until the time is right."

I silently took the vial and placed it within the pocket of my sweatshirt. Then, Hera having vanished by now, I walked to Percy's bunk, my body shaking violently as I clamped my hand around his wrist, whispering, _"Immobiles,"_ waiting until he was fully frozen in time.

After checking that the enchantment was working, I shadow-traveled us to Hera's secret palace in Ottawa, Canada, which was hidden by so much Mist that not even Boreas himself would be able to see the place unless Hera wanted him to. The only reason I knew that this palace existed was because of the many times I had to talk Hera out of killing Thalia and Jason Grace, and Ottawa had been isolated enough that no one questioned rumbling in the mountains, probably brushing off Hera's anger as an avalanche.

I moved Percy into the parlor, which Hera had transformed into a cozy den, full of warm, fuzzy blankets, the air smelling of freshly baked cookies. Seeing that I'd only just woken up myself, the urge to fall asleep in one of the plush seats was extremely tempting, but I still had a job to do, even if I seriously detested it.

Hera had also brought a bed into the parlor, placing it near the ever-burning fireplace, the warmth permeating through the room, preventing any of the chilly air from the outside from staying cold for long. I tucked Percy into bed, draping the softest, fuzziest blanket over him before finally placing my hands on either side of his head, draining his mind of all his memories.

Once I'd gotten all of Percy's memories into the vial Hera gave me, I tucked it away into my bag, setting it next to my mythology book. The nausea quickly set in from how upset I was, my dinner threatening to make an appearance as I saw how rigid Percy's body was from my enchantment, almost as if he were a corpse. It didn't help matters that he seemed to have paled considerably from having his memory wiped, appearing whiter than the snow outside.

"Goodbye, squirt," I said, forcing myself to finally get up to head back to camp. I pressed a kiss to his forehead and ruffled his hair a final time before vanishing into the shadows, returning to cabin three before anyone could notice that I'd disappeared.

* * *

The next morning was one of the worst of my life, second only to the morning of Cleo's death.

I'd shown up to breakfast the next day looking like a zombie, dark circles under my eyes from lack of sleep. After I came back from Canada, I couldn't fall asleep, shame and guilt eating at me from the inside out as I stared at the wooden panels of the bunk above mine, my thoughts racing at a million miles an hour.

To make matters worse, it was painfully obvious that Percy wasn't with me, as we were the only two that sat at Poseidon's table, and he was never late for breakfast. Seriously, that boy could eat as much as a satyr and still be in perfect shape, but that's from always training and trying not to die.

I ignored Luke and Will's questions as I sat down at the table, drinking at least four mugs of coffee while only pushing around my toast and eggs, too queasy to even consider eating anything. But I still managed a few bites of my eggs to placate Will before getting up, wanting to sit by the hearth, where I knew Hestia would be, even if Zeus had closed Olympus.

I didn't get far, however, before Annabeth called my name, forcing me to face her.

Annabeth's worry was palpable, concern visible on every feature of her face as she looked me up and down. "Good morning," she said politely, before immediately asking, "Is Percy okay? He missed breakfast, which we both know is weird for him."

"I think he just overslept," I said. "Come on. Let's go wake him up."

That seemed to calm Annabeth down just a tad, but the sick feeling in the pit of my stomach only grew as we got closer to cabin three. I seriously doubted she would take the disappearance of her boyfriend very well.

Annabeth walked into the cabin before I did, turning her expectant gaze towards Percy's unmade bed. Drool still remained on his pillow, his shoes still at the foot of his bed, and his clothes from last night still piled into a messy heap on the floor.

"Where is he?" she asked, moving to make Percy's bed, though she was unwilling to touch the drool-soaked pillow.

"Maybe he went to the bathroom?" I stifled a yawn. "I really don't know, Annabeth. He was here when I went to breakfast."

"Why didn't you wake him up?"

"He was having nightmares last night and got very little sleep. So I promised to stay up until he fell asleep, which was around five in the morning. Breakfast is usually at seven-thirty, so I decided to let him sleep when he didn't wake up with the conch shell. Worst case scenario, I always have food with me, so he still would've gotten breakfast if he woke up before lunch."

Annabeth nodded grimly. "Could you ask Luke or Will to check the bathroom for Percy? I'm going to go look for him. He would've come to say good morning to me by now, if he was awake."

"I'll definitely ask them. If something changes, let me know, okay?"

"Of course." She pursed her lips before leaving the cabin.

As for me, I sank back into my bed, clutching a pillow as I stared into the corner, watching the salt water fountain bubble happily, casting a soft green glow amongst all the shadows. Even the hippocampi mobile hanging from the ceiling wasn't enough to raise my spirits – actually, they only made me more upset as I remembered how hurt Tyson would be because of Percy's disappearance.

I don't know how long I was staring at the fountain until I eventually nodded off, feeling my head slump against my chest. The only reason I knew I was dreaming was thanks to the fact that I was looking into the face of my mother, whom I hadn't seen since she ran away from her burning home.

She sported a nasty gash that ran from the base of her ear to corner of her lips; scorch marks littered her clothing; her hair was patchy in spots, as if someone had aggressively been trying to expose her scalp. The cloak she had over her shoulders was shredded at the bottom, but she didn't seem to mind. In her hand, she held her sword, her cerulean blue eyes scanning the horizon as she grit her teeth, anticipating an incoming attack.

"I don't have a lot of time, Andy," Salina told me softly, though her body was wound up tighter than a compressed spring. "Those interdimensional monsters I warned you about all those years ago have caught up to us, and they want us dead for bringing you here."

"How can I help?" I asked, cringing as I turned just in time to watch Taurus decapitate something that looked like a mixture of the slimiest snake and the nastiest hellhound in existence. Black blood spewed in his face, causing him to swear in a language that I didn't understand.

"Your job," Salina said sternly, placing a steady hand on one of my shoulders. "They're just upset, but once everything is righted, they will flee. Fulfill your mission here, Andy, and we will be just fine."

"But I won't be done for at least another year or two! Surely there must be something-"

Salina gave me a crooked smile. "Ye of little faith. We'll manage, daughter, just as we have for the last nine years." She then pulled me into a quick but extremely comforting hug, planting a kiss on my forehead before she said, "And one other thing. Don't feel guilty about what you did to Percy. That was destined by the Fates eons ago. You just happened to be the conduit."

"Lovely," I muttered. "Wait, when will I see you again?"

"I do not know. But I will always be with you whenever you make a wish. Don't forget that."

Salina then shoved me to the ground, yelling in defiance as she swept her sword in a downward arc, cutting down what looked like a stick bug but a hundred times larger with jagged thorns on the end of his spindly legs, narrowly evading the second leg from spearing her through the thigh.

I watched as Salina snapped her fingers, causing me to jerk awake, groaning as my neck audibly popped from the awkward position I'd been in. I quickly shoved on my shoes before running back outside, where the entire camp shouted cries of, "Percy! Percy!" searching in every nook and cranny for the son of Poseidon.

At one point, I even saw Clarisse dragging Chris around, muttering, "I swear to the gods if I find Prissy, I'm going to kick him into next week for worrying Annabeth like this."

"I thought you weren't friends?" Chris asked, narrowly avoiding being body slammed into a Nemesis kid from how aggressively Clarisse was dragging him.

"That's what that punk thinks," Clarisse grunted, before delving into the forest, her boyfriend in one hand, her spear in the other.

Not wanting to look suspicious myself, I began on my own fruitless search, diving into both the lake and the beach, asking the naiads, hippocampi, mermaids, fish, and other aquatic life forms if they'd seen Percy, to which they all responded by shaking their heads no.

As the sun quickly began setting, Annabeth grew increasingly distraught, hunched over maps of the camp and sending campers in every direction to search.

"But what about the dragon?" Miranda Gardiner from Demeter asked. "How can we get to any of these places if we're gonna be burned to a crisp?"

"Jake, any news on the dragon?" Annabeth asked, her voice heavy with exhaustion as she turned to the head counselor of the Hephaestus cabin. Jake had become head counselor after Beckendorf left with Silena to go to college, and ever since the semester started, they hadn't come back.

"We've set a bunch of traps around the forest. We're hoping those will work."

"Yes, because a sentient metal dragon will simply waltz into a vat motor oil on its own accord," Jessica Green from Ares sneered. She struck the ground with the butt of her spear. "Someone needs to go in there and kill that damn automaton before one of us gets killed."

"Oh, are you volunteering?" Jake spat, his face red with anger. "Be my guest! If Beckendorf was unable to deactivate the dragon in the last three months, what makes you think that we can do it in three days?!" Jake stopped yelling, his anger morphing to sadness almost instantaneously. "The only person who could ever control the dragon was James, and he's dead. So unless you know of some way to perform necromancy, pits of motor oil is all we have as of now."

No one responded to Jake's comments, the reminder of James's death still fresh despite the fact that he'd died four months ago.

"I'll take the forest," I volunteered, breaking the silence. "I'm fireproof, so even if the dragon tried to burn me to ashes, I wouldn't be hurt. Where do you need me to go, Annabeth?"

She sighed in relief. "By the Myrmekes' hill. It's up by that grove of old singing trees, the ones that sound like ghost voices."

"I'll go with you," Luke declared, shoving past the rest of the campers and standing next to me. "We should use the buddy system from here on out. We don't know if Percy's disappearance was a onetime thing, or if someone else is next."

I nodded in agreement. "Report to Chiron who your buddy is, and check in with him every few hours. We don't need more campers to go missing at a time like this."

"You have your orders," Annabeth said, still sounding like a commander of an army despite the fact that anyone could see from the way she held herself that she was about to crumble at any moment. "Go!"

The rest of the campers scattered as they returned to their searches, while Luke and I stayed behind, watching as Annabeth sniffed quietly as she folded up the map of Camp Half-Blood. She turned to us, her eyes glazed over with unshed tears.

I merely held out my arms towards her, and she sank into my embrace, her body trembling as she sobbed into my shoulder. I didn't say anything, just letting her release her emotions as I gently rubbed circles into her back.

"Oh, gods," she cried, unable to hide her concern. "He wouldn't have left so abruptly without telling someone. Where could he be?"

"I don't know," I said, sounding as miserable as I felt, knowing that I was lying to a girl who was practically my sister. "But I'll tell you what – I'm going to go investigate up on Olympus to see if anyone knows what's going on."

"Isn't Olympus closed?" Luke asked, flinching when I shot him a scathing glare. Now was not the time to be the bearer of bad news.

"Yes, it is," I answered, "for demigods, that is."

Annabeth sniffed and pulled away. "But you're a demigod, Andy, aren't you?"

I fiddled with a strand of my hair. "Well…not exactly. Remember when Zeus tried to fry me?"

"Yes," Luke growled. "And I was ready to shove my sword so far up his-"

"Luke!" Annabeth exclaimed, gently swatting at his arm.

"Anyways," I continued, "the gods thought I didn't die, because I had the Curse of Achilles. But instead of just surviving the blast and moving on with my life, Zeus made me a goddess."

Annabeth scrunched her eyebrows together in confusion. "I thought Zeus forbade you from ever becoming immortal?"

"He did." I shrugged my shoulders. "Don't know why he changed his mind, but now I'm stuck with immortality, and he won't take it back. But seeing that I'm a goddess, I can still get in and out of Olympus, even though Zeus says it's closed to the public."

"That's great!" Luke said. "That way we can still get news even if Zeus is too stubborn to tell us. You're amazing, Andy!"

After what Luke did next, I was seriously considering kicking him in the shins for being so forgetful. He kissed me right on the lips for a few moments too long to be considered a peck, completely forgetting the fact that Annabeth was literally no more than two feet away from us, her eyes welling up with tears again.

I pushed Luke off, scowling at him as Annabeth started crying again, wrapping her arms tightly around her chest, like she was trying to prevent herself from falling apart. I stepped back, knowing that a hug from me was not what she needed at the moment.

"We'll find him, Annabeth," I said.

"Gods, I hope so," she muttered, drying her tears. "I-I think I'm going to IM Sally. She deserves to know." Then the daughter of Athena took off towards cabin six, her cries still loud enough to be heard as she fled.

* * *

 **Hi all!**

 **Hope you enjoyed the chapter!**

 **And I also finished the _Tyrant's Tomb,_ so if anyone needs to rant about what happened, feel free to PM me! **

**Have a great day!**


	56. Chapter 56

For the next three days, no one slept as the search for Percy Jackson continued. The first to fall asleep had been the children of Hypnos (surprise, surprise), who had to have beaten some kind of record as all three boys, including Clovis, stayed awake for seventy-three hours. Once the Hypnos kids were gone, the rest of the camp quickly followed suit.

But, like always, there were exceptions. Clarisse and Chris, for example, absolutely refused to get any sleep until they were given enough satisfactory news about Percy's whereabouts. Although the pair looked exhausted and had probably drank their body's weight worth of coffee, they stuck by Annabeth, going wherever it was she asked them to go.

Luke and I had been the exact same way. And though the sleep deprivation didn't really affect me, I could tell Luke was struggling from the way that he staggered while he walked, or the way he'd nod off whenever he sat down before jerking awake. I'd tried to force him to get some sleep yesterday, but he refused, saying that Percy wouldn't have slept had it been Luke that went missing.

He'd also been mumbling something about his arm hurting, pulling away from me whenever I'd try to ask him if he'd injured himself, refusing to let me glance at his right arm higher than his wrist. I knew I'd have to look into that, and soon, but there were more pressing matters to be dealt with.

And then there was Annabeth, still hunched over dozens of books and maps, spending countless drachmas on IM's to contact the Hunters, Grover, and Tyson. She'd even gone as far as IM-ing Nico, which he responded with a scowl and a curt promise that he'd help look.

"I'm missing something," she muttered to herself, her fingers tracing over the outline of a map.

"No, you're not," Rachel Elizabeth Dare said, setting down a mug of tea in front of Annabeth, gently moving the books and maps aside. "You have done your best to contact Percy in every single way. Now, take a seat and drink your tea before you drop dead from exhaustion."

Annabeth begrudgingly took a seat, rubbing her face before picking up the mug, just holding it in her hands for a while. Rachel gave her a small smile, taking a sip of her own tea. Luke, who'd been sitting next to me at the table, had slumped over in his seat, softly snoring as his sword fell out of his grasp.

I was just about to get up to get some coffee from upstairs (we were in the Big House's rec room), when Annabeth went rigid, her eyes rolling into the back of her head, her mug falling to the floor and shattering.

"Is she having a seizure?!" Rachel exclaimed as I hopped up out of my seat, moving Annabeth onto the floor, away from the broken glass and spilled tea.

"No," I said, realizing that she wasn't convulsing. I placed a finger on her forehead and shivered, feeling the presence of another goddess in her mind. "She's having a vision, that's all."

"But isn't it supposed to be me that gets visions, you know, being the Oracle and all?" Rachel didn't sound jealous; instead she was deeply concerned as well as curious about why Annabeth had just seized so suddenly.

"Yes, but this is different."

Annabeth breathed a sigh of relief as her body relaxed again. She slowly sat herself up, clutching her head while she groaned. Then she stood up so quickly that she nearly passed out, staggering as she kept herself upright with the nearest wall.

"Woah, there," I said, keeping my hands on Annabeth's shoulders to keep her steady. "Slow down. Whatever you saw can wait until you catch your breath."

"No, it can't," Annabeth said, shaking her head, the smallest twinge of hope in her voice. "Hera…Hera told me that I need to go to the Grand Canyon right now. There'll be a boy wearing one shoe, and he'll lead me to Percy." Her eyes widened. "I need to get Butch!"

 _"_ _I'll_ get Butch," I said, preventing Annabeth from sprinting out of the Big House. _"You_ go eat some breakfast while I help harness the pegasi. It'll take at least another half hour before we can go."

"Wait, why don't you just shadow-travel?" Rachel asked, looking at me suspiciously. "That way, you can get there in a few seconds."

"Rachel, for the time being, I have to travel normally, err, as normal for a demigod that is. I'm being watched by Olympus right now, and every time I shadow or mist-travel, Zeus finds out about it. Unless something's life threatening, I can't be traveling like that right now," I said, not entirely lying. Even as a goddess, I figured Zeus still had some kind of tracer on me, the same way he'd done with my chronokinesis when I was growing up.

She nodded, seeming satisfied with my answer. "Well, while you two go play hero, I'll make sure this one" – she gestured towards Luke, who had drool dribbling down his chin – "gets into his own bed. I'm sure Will will be willing to help."

I smirked, proud of her puns. "Thanks, Rachel. We'll keep you updated."

"Same here. I've got some things I need to check out in the meantime."

After making sure that Annabeth was going to get some breakfast and not run directly to the stables, I went to find Butch, who was riding a pegasus over the lake. I flagged him down, watching the shock set in as he flew back to the stables, already harnessing up two fresh pegasi to the flying chariot.

"Are you coming?" Butch asked, tying off the last knot to the harnesses, tugging to make sure nothing would come undone.

"Of course," I said. "But I'll be taking Star. We don't know how many demigods we'll be encountering, and I reckon we'll need the space."

"Do you need my help with Star?"

"No, but thank you for your offer." I walked to the end of the stables, knocking on the wooden gate to wake up Star, who'd been peacefully sleeping in the corner of her stable. She shook her head as she woke up, peeking her head over the door to see why I was here.

 _Mistress?_ she asked, blinking her eyes in confusion. _Why are you here so early? Flying lessons aren't today, are they?_

"No, they aren't," I confirmed, petting her muzzle. "But we have a rescue mission, and I'd like your help."

"Are you…talking to Star?" Butch asked, brushing off some stray hay from the coats of either pegasus.

"Yeah. I can talk to horses." I turned back to Star. "So, you up for it?"

 _Of course, Mistress! It's been so long since I've stretched my wings!_

"You and I literally flew to Virginia two weeks ago."

 _That's too long! So, where are we going?_

"The Grand Canyon. It's a little far, I know-"

 _Are you kidding?_ Star interrupted, her body positively thrumming with excitement, her wings twitching with anticipation. _Far is Argentina or China, not the Grand Canyon! I can get us there in a jiffy!_

 _So can we!_ the other pegasi exclaimed, joyously flapping their wings. _We want to help too!_

"You'll all be a great help, I'm sure of it." I handed Star an apple, which she snatched so quickly that it was a miracle I still had all my fingers attached to my hand. I ended up giving the other two pegasi apples as well, as they began whining that they were good pegasi that deserved apples too.

"Ready?" Butch asked, strapping his sword and its scabbard to his waist, stepping into the chariot.

"Yes," Annabeth declared, pink in the face and out of breath as she ran into the stables, hopping into the chariot with Butch, her dagger gleaming at her side. "The sooner we leave, the sooner we'll find him."

"Let's go," Butch called out to the pegasi, pulling ever so slightly on the reins until the chariot was out of the stables before tightening his grip, sending the pegasi into the air. Star and I followed suit, keeping up with Butch and Annabeth.

Then Butch flicked his reins, making his pegasi go supersonic, which Star was quick to match. The world became a blur of blues and greens and grays as we zipped across the country. But even though we were moving about the same speed as the fastest plane ever invented, we wouldn't reach the Grand Canyon for another hour, at least.

And despite the fact that Annabeth looked like she was about to drop from exhaustion, her eyes constantly shutting for a few seconds before flying open, I couldn't tell her to sleep lest she'd fall out of the back of the chariot. Seriously, who thought it was a good idea to make chariots without a backside – or seat belts for that matter? I understand these safety hazards back in ancient times, but in 2009, really?

To speed things up, I warped time around us, sending us about four times as fast as we'd been moving, cutting down our travel time from an hour to fifteen minutes. Yeah, if I thought my face was going to peel off during normal shadow-traveling, then moving this fast made me feel like my soul was going to be ripped from my body.

Butch didn't seem bothered by the increased speed, a huge smile on his face as he whooped and wailed happily while Annabeth was holding on for dear life, her knuckles white against the chariot.

 _We're here, Mistress,_ Star announced, relaying the message to the other pegasi as we slowed down to a much more normal speed.

"Down there!" Annabeth cried, pointing to the glass bridge that spanned the length of the Grand Canyon, where three blobs were standing.

We swooped downward, landing on the opposite edge of the skywalk, the pegasi skittering nervously as they sensed how fragile the glass was underfoot. I hadn't even started to dismount from Star when Annabeth leapt from the chariot, knife in hand, charging towards Jason.

"Where is he?" she demanded, brandishing her dagger.

I swore under my breath and hopped off Star's back, telling her to stay there with Butch while I made sure Annabeth didn't kill anyone.

"Where's who?" Jason asked, genuinely oblivious as to who Annabeth was referring to. Then he looked up at me, his blue eyes lingering a moment too long on me as he frowned. I wondered if he remembered me or not. Jason's eyes started to drift towards my arm, which I responded to by casually rolling up the sleeve of my jacket, showing that there was no tattoo. I'd made sure that it was hidden since the day I left Frank at the Wolf House.

Annabeth scowled, turning towards Leo, who was staring at me with wide eyes, and Piper, who was clearly trying to process everything she was seeing. "What about Gleeson? Where is your protector, Gleeson Hedge?"

Leo cleared his throat, breaking out of his stupor. But there was something in the way that he looked at me that said that we were going to have a long conversation about this later. "He got taken by some…tornado things."

" _Venti,"_ Jason said. "Storm spirits."

"Isn't that a Starbucks size?" Leo asked, hoping to raise everyone's spirits. I snorted at the joke, but Annabeth merely raised an eyebrow at him before returning her gaze to Jason.

"You mean _anemoi thuellai?_ That's the Greek term. Who are you, and what happened?"

"Slow down," I said to Annabeth, placing a hand on her shoulder. "They've just been attacked. Give them a second to collect their thoughts."

Annabeth gave them a few seconds, but Jason, having been intimidated by her piercing gray eyes, spilled his guts, telling us everything about the attack, including the storm spirit, Dylan. Piper sneered at the mention of his name, having been thrown off the skywalk because of him.

Once Jason finished his story, Annabeth dug her nails into her palms, looking deeply unsatisfied. "No, no, no! She _told_ me he'd be here. She told me if I came here, I'd find the answer."

"Annabeth," Butch, who'd joined us halfway through Jason's story, grunted. "Check it out." He pointed at Jason's feet.

"The guy with one shoe," I explained. "He's the answer."

Jason wriggled his toes, checking that they still worked despite the fact that his foot like it'd just been charbroiled in a giant's barbeque.

"No, guys," Annabeth insisted. "He can't be. I was tricked." She looked up, glaring daggers at the sky. Even though her glare wasn't directed at me, I still shivered. Give me monsters any day of the week instead of Annabeth's death glare, which was easily much more terrifying than Percy's, and that's saying something. "What do you want from me?" she screamed. "What have you done with him?"

The skywalk groaned beneath us, causing the pegasi to whiny nervously.

 _Mistress, the glass is going to give way,_ Star warned me, commanding the others to stay as still as possible. _We should really get going before we all fall._

"Working on it, Star," I said, ignoring the way that Piper, Leo, and Jason were staring at me.

"Who's Star?" Piper asked.

"My pegasus," I answered, waving towards Star, who bowed her head to identify herself to Piper. "I rode her here. But don't worry about that. We've gotta get back to camp."

"We can figure it out there," Butch agreed. "Those storm spirits might come back, anyways."

Annabeth looked like she wanted to punch someone's lights out – most likely Hera's. "Fine." She shot Jason a resentful look. "We'll settle this later."

She turned on her heel and marched towards the chariot.

Piper shook her head. "What's _her_ problem? What's going on? And _why_ do you have a pegasus?"

"Seriously," Leo agreed.

"I'm not going anywhere with _her."_ Jason gestured towards Annabeth. "She looks like she wants to kill me."

"Not true," I said, shaking my head. "She's just really upset about how this turned out."

"Great, so we're disappointments," Piper muttered darkly, pulling her fleece jacket tighter around herself.

Butch hesitated. "Annabeth's okay. You gotta cut her some slack. She had a vision telling her to come here, to find a guy with one shoe. That was supposed to be the answer to her problem."

"What problem?"

"She's been looking for one of our campers, who's been missing three days," Butch said. "She's going out of her mind with worry. She hoped he'd be here."

"Who?" Jason asked.

"Her boyfriend," I answered, chewing my bottom lip. "A guy named Percy Jackson. Neither one of us has gotten any sleep in three days, because we've been trying to find him. So if Annabeth's coming off as a little abrasive right now, I promise, she's not like that all the time once you get to know her."

"Now, into the chariot, everyone," Butch said, waving the trio to the end of the skywalk. "I'm no child of Hephaestus, but even I can tell that this bridge is compromised. Let's go before we learn what it's like to fall to our deaths."

"I wouldn't let that happen, Butch, you know that."

"Right, forget. Sorry about that, Andy."

I shrugged my shoulders. "No biggie."

"So it _is_ you," Leo exhaled, rushing to walk side by side with me. "I hadn't seen you in so long that I thought…"

"Do you still have those charms I gave you?"

Leo raised his wrist, revealing the same piece of wire that he'd used the day I gave him his charms, which were still dangling there. "What did they have to do with you?"

"I told you I'd always be there if you needed me, Leo. All you had to do was think about me, and those charms would've sent me a message to come and get you." We walked towards the chariot, having fallen behind the rest of the group.

"I tried to find you after you ran away," I continued, my voice barely above a whisper. "Raina said she couldn't find you either. But I never stopped looking, Leo."

"Andy, come on!" Butch exclaimed, pointing to the growing crack in the glass.

"We'll talk more at camp," I promised, motioning for Leo to get into the chariot as I hopped onto Star's back. "Let's go!"

* * *

After a somewhat chaotic landing at camp, one which resulted in the chariot being thrown into the lake, Annabeth, Butch, Jason, Leo, and Piper stood in front of the Aphrodite cabin's industrial sized hairdryer (to this day, no one knows why the Aphrodite kids use it), drying them all in two seconds.

"Annabeth!" Will shouted, pushing through the rest of the crowd of about twenty campers. "I said you could _borrow_ the chariot, not destroy it!"

"Will, I'm sorry," Annabeth sighed. "I'll get it fixed, I promise."

"I've got it," I said, waving a hand over the broken chariot, reversing it until it was whole again. "There you go, Will: one flying chariot in perfect condition."

Will seemed mollified now that the chariot was no longer in shambles. Then he sized up Piper, Leo, and Jason. "These are the ones? Way older than thirteen. Why haven't they been claimed already?"

"Claimed?" Leo asked.

"By your-" I tried to explain, before getting cut off by Will asking, "Any sign of Percy?"

I winced.

"No," Annabeth admitted.

Campers muttered amongst themselves, mainly in despair and anger. Percy had been like an older brother to so many of them that the reality of his disappearance deeply bothered almost everyone.

"Where _are_ we?" Piper asked, turning around in a small circle, taking in the awesomeness that is Camp Half-Blood. No offense to the Romans, but I still think Camp Half-Blood is better.

"Welcome to Camp Half-Blood," Luke said, pushing his way through the crowd as well. "Hopefully, you three will be claimed by tonight, so we can introduce you to your cabin mates and give you the official tour."

"Would someone please tell me what _claimed_ means?" Piper asked.

Suddenly there was a collective gasp. The campers backed away.

Floating right over Leo's head was the image of a fiery hammer – the symbol of Hephaestus.

"That," Annabeth said, "is claiming."

"What'd I do?" Leo backed toward the lake. Then he glanced up and yelped. "Is my hair on fire?" He ducked, but the symbol followed him, bobbing and weaving so it looked like he was trying to write something in flames with his head.

"This can't be good," Butch muttered. "The curse-"

"Butch, shut up," Annabeth said. "Leo, you've just been claimed-"

"By a god," Jason interrupted. "That's the symbol of Vulcan, isn't it?"

All eyes turned to him, causing for Jason to turn pink.

"Jason," Annabeth said carefully, "how did you know that?"

"I-I'm not sure."

"Vulcan?" Leo demanded. "I don't even LIKE _Star Trek._ What are you talking about?"

"Vulcan is the Roman name for Hephaestus, god of blacksmiths and fire," I explained. "That means you'll be in cabin nine with the rest of the Hephaestus children."

"The god of _what?_ Who?"

Annabeth gave me a pleading look. "Would you please give Leo the tour, Andy?"

"Of course. Come on, Leo." I placed a hand on his shoulder, gently steering him towards the cabins, away from the commotion at the lake. Gods know we'd have enough drama to deal with as soon as the others saw Jason's tattoo. "Feel free to ask me any questions. I don't mind answering them."

As I expected, Leo bombarded me with questions so quickly it was amazing his voice was able to keep up with his thoughts. I did my best to answer the questions that I did understand, which seemed to make Leo a lot happier, but then he asked the dreaded, "Why didn't you tell me about this place sooner?"

We stopped right outside of cabin nine. I sighed, brushing a strand of hair behind my ear.

"If it was up to me," I said, looking Leo straight in the eyes, "I would've told you the truth the day that I met you. I would've brought you here, where I know you would've been happy with your brothers and sisters. But, like I explained all those years ago, I was sworn to secrecy, and I couldn't tell you anything about this place or the truth about you."

"Is that why you gave me this dagger?" Leo reached into his army jacket, pulling out the dagger I'd given him the day that we met. It was much duller than I remember it being, but that meant it was being used, which made me feel both happy and anxious at the same time.

I nodded. "Although I couldn't tell you everything, I wanted to give you a weapon that could kill monsters, if the situation ever arose. That was another reason I wanted you to live in that safe house. The others would've trained you so that you'd be prepared." I bit my lip again. "I'm sorry if I'm the reason you ran away. I just wanted the best for you, Leo."

Leo managed a weak smile. "You're not the reason I ran away, Andy. If I had any say in the matter, I would've lived in that safe house the rest of my life. You were the only one who believed me about my mom – that meant, still means, the world to me."

"So, now that that's out of the way," I said, smiling at the younger boy. "Let me introduce you to the rest of cabin nine."

"And just so I'm clear, everyone I'm about to meet are my siblings?"

"Yup."

"Great," Leo said, rubbing his hands together mischievously. "More victims to prank."

" _Leo."_

He held his hands up in surrender. "I'm joking. Maybe."

I rolled my eyes but laughed anyways. "Be nice," I said, "and be careful about what you touch. Even though this isn't the forge, there are a few projects scattered about, and they might blow up in your face if you so much as nudge it the wrong way."

Nervousness flickered over Leo's face for a few moments, but he plastered on a smile and said, "Explosive projects? That sounds awesome!"

"Then you're ready to enter the Hephaestus cabin. Welcome to Camp Half-Blood."

* * *

After terrorizing Leo by showing him Jake's newly cast-covered body and revealing the fact that his bed used to be James's, I took Leo on the rest of the tour of camp, which seemed to calm his nerves just a bit. However, he still seemed jumpy, constantly gazing back towards the hearth, where I knew he saw Hera as his Tía Callida staring back at him even if I couldn't see her.

Once we finished our tour, I led Leo down to the forges to introduce him to the rest of his cabin mates. I warned him a second time to be careful about what he picked up in the forges, these inventions much more dangerous and temperamental when compared to the inventions back in cabin nine.

Before I left him to settle in with Nyssa and Harley and the others, Leo grabbed a hold of my wrist and gently pulled me aside.

"So, Hephaestus is the god of fire, right?" he asked, his hands fidgeting by his sides, fiddling with the zippers from his army jacket.

"Yeah," I answered. "He's also the god of the forge and blacksmiths. Why do you ask?"

Leo stared intensely at an oil stain on the floor.

"Oh, right. Well, most children of Hephaestus don't have control over fire, contrary to popular belief. The last son of Hephaestus who was pyrokinetic was named Thomas Faynor. In 1666, he started the Great Fire of London, destroying most of the city."

"So I shouldn't mention my power, then?"

"That's up to you, Leo." I gave him what I hoped was a reassuring smile. "But if it makes you feel any better, they already know about me, so it wouldn't be too much of a shock, I don't think. Well, I'll let Nyssa take over from here. Keep him safe, would you?" I asked, looking at the eldest daughter of Hephaestus, a smiley face Band-Aid resting on her chin.

"As safe as these forges can be," Nyssa promised before gesturing for Leo to follow her further into the forges. Leo gave me one last look that screamed _help,_ but he followed Nyssa anyways, his worry quickly turning to awe as he took in the intricate details of the forges.

I left the forges and headed back to cabin three, sure that Annabeth and Will would take care of orienting Piper and Jason. As for me, well, I flopped into my bunk, falling asleep the moment that my head hit the pillow.


	57. Chapter 57

I don't know how I managed to sleep for so long, surprised that no one had come to try to find me seeing as I'd been gone for about seven hours now. The sun had set a while ago, leaving the moon to cast a soft glow over the camp, which severely failed to make me feel more relaxed as I could still hear people outside my cabin, shouting for Percy's name.

Instead of going back outside, I rummaged through my bag and pulled out my phone, selecting Patrick's phone number. If I remembered correctly, today was the annual holiday party at Chris Santiago's house, and all my friends would be there. And by be there, I mean that they'll all show up, grab a drink, and stand awkwardly in the corner of the most deserted room while they tried to talk to each other over the booming bass from Chris's massive speakers.

I sighed softly as I pressed the call button, lifting my phone up to my ear as I heard the familiar _ring, ring_ as I waited for Patrick to pick up. It took me five times, but on the sixth try, Patrick finally picked up, practically yelling at me as the bass was about ten times louder than his own voice.

"HI, ANDY!" he greeted, and I winced, having to pull my phone away from my ear unless I wanted to go deaf.

"Hi, Patrick," I said. "How are you doing?"

"WHAT?"

"How are you doing?" I repeated, slightly raising my voice.

"I'M SORRY, WHAT?"

Knowing that this wasn't going to get better any time soon, I hung up and sent Patrick a text to call me back when he could. I then got out of bed and threw on a sweatshirt, the air outside much colder than it had been earlier during the day.

I walked over towards the cabin's only window, which faced the west, where the beach was if you walked in a straight line from here. But there was the forest between the cabin and the ocean, so I couldn't look out towards the waves, instead watching the leaves and branches from various trees sway with the breeze.

So this was what a fruitless search felt like, I thought to myself, my breath fogging up the glass. I wiped away the condensation and pried open the window, shivering as a blast of winter air hit me. Though the camp's barrier kept the worst of the bad weather out, it did nothing to stop the cold.

But even though I was freezing, I enjoyed the frigid air. I was about to pull over a chair to sit down and sketch the forest when I heard a loud roar deep within the trees, causing for birds to screech as they flew upwards, trying to evade danger.

I shoved on my sneakers before jumping out of the window and running into the forest, heading towards the noise. As an added bonus, from the way that the dryads and nymphs were fleeing, I could pinpoint the location of the disturbance a lot easier than had they stayed in their homes.

When I found what was going on, I stopped dead in my tracks, my body thrumming with the sense that I could have no part in this. Instead, I climbed up the nearest tree, settling onto the lowest branch that could support my weight.

I found Leo furiously wiping at a golden disk covered with wires while the large bronze dragon, who had yet to be named Festus, hung upside down in one of the golden nets that the Hephaestus cabin had set up in the hopes of capturing him.

A moment later, once Leo was sure that the disk was as clean as he could make it, he reinserted it into Festus's head, his ruby red eyes glowing once the last wire was reattached. Then came the task of getting Festus out of the trap without alerting anyone else, which Leo did by scrambling around the net like a monkey until he finally found the release clamps, lowering Festus to the ground.

It wasn't long until Festus bounded off towards Bunker 9 with Leo trailing behind him. I decided to tag along as well, seeing as I'd never visited Bunker 9 in my ten years here despite the fact that I knew exactly where it was. Looking back on it, maybe I should've gone down there ages ago. Who knows what kind of revolutionary inventions were down there?

And seeing that that familiar feeling that told me to back off had disappeared, I figured the least I could do is help Leo attach Festus's wings for his quest. And, who knows, maybe I could take a look at the control disk to give Festus a little more, much needed power to keep them from spiraling to the ground.

"Hey, wait up!" I called out to Leo as Festus stopped in front of a huge limestone cliff, easily a hundred feet tall.

Leo jumped so violently that he nearly fell off the side of the cliff. "My God, a warning next time, please!" he exclaimed amongst a myriad of other curses. "You could've given me a heart attack!"

I waved off his concern. "You're too young to have a heart attack. What _is_ this place?" I asked, gesturing towards the huge rock.

"Don't know." Leo shrugged. "Festus here is pointing at it, so unless…" Leo stepped forward and placed his hand against the stone, fiery lines spreading from his fingertips until the outline of a door the size of a small elephant appeared before giving way, revealing the inside of Bunker 9.

"Ladies first," Leo said, and I walked inside, the tip of my index finger burning like a candle amongst all the darkness. Festus and Leo trailed behind me.

The doors then abruptly shut with a loud _bang!_ causing for Leo to inhale sharply, the darkness absolutely consuming despite my little light. Just as I was about to move my flames from my finger to my palm, there was a sudden whir as the lights flicked on, flooding the room in a bright white light.

"Festus, where did you bring us?" Leo asked, his eyes wide with amazement.

"Bunker Nine, apparently," I said, pointing out to the Greek writing scrawled out on a tattered banner hanging from chains above the platform where Festus had curled up onto.

The cave was the size of an airplane hangar, with endless worktables and storage cages, rows of garage-sized doors along either wall, and staircases that led up to a network of catwalks high above. Equipment was everywhere – hydraulic lifts, wielding torches, hazard suits, air-spades, forklifts, plus something that looked suspiciously like a nuclear reaction chamber. Bulletin boards were covered with tattered, faded blueprints. And weapons, armor, and shields – war supplies – were all over the place, most of them only partially finished.

"Do the other kids know about this place?"

I shook my head. "No. I'm just finding out about this place, and I've been here longer than most people." I walked over to the nearest bulletin board, my fingers hovering over the thin, worn blueprints. "I wonder what these blueprints are of."

Leo stood next to me, his eyes scanning over the dust covered paper. "I have no clue," he admitted, his gaze shifting to the other blueprints. "I think if we so much as touch them, they'll crumble."

"Not necessarily. Actually, I think I could get this place back to the way it's supposed to be."

"And how are we supposed to do that in one night?"

"With magic?"

"You're a wizard?!"

I laughed at Leo's expression, which made it seem like his jaw was about to hit the floor. "No, silly. After all, this isn't _Harry Potter._ I mean, I have the power to manipulate time."

"Oh," Leo said, flushed from embarrassment. "That makes a lot more sense."

I waved my hands over the general direction of the rest of Bunker 9, waiting until everything was inside my golden time bubble. Then I moved my hands in counterclockwise circles, watching as the signs of wear and tear and age disappeared from equipment and materials until everything was practically brand spanking new, including the blueprints.

Once I was done, I leaned against the wall to prevent from falling over, my legs wobbling underneath me. While my chronokinesis was much less draining now that I was a goddess – if I was still a demigod, I would've passed out once I tried to reverse anything past a week old – it still took a lot out of me.

"Are you alright?" Leo asked, gently lowering me to the ground. "You look like you're about to faint, and I seriously doubt I'll be able to get any help if you do."

"I'm fine, Leo," I said, wiping away beads of sweat with the sleeve of my sweatshirt. I tugged the charm for my bag and rummaged through it, finding my baggie full of ambrosia and pulled out a small square of the godly food. Once I finished off the square, I could stand up again without feeling like my legs were about to give out.

"Do you just casually carry around pieces of granola bars in your bag, Andy? Speaking of which, how did you get that bag? I didn't see it earlier."

"Firstly, that was ambrosia, the food of the gods," I gently explained. "Too much of it can cause a demigod to burn up, and it'll instantly kill mortals. But it works for demigods when we're hurt or our powers have drained us too much and we need an energy boost. Secondly, my bag is enchanted to collapse into a charm on my bracelet when I don't need it, so if I need something from my bag, I just tug on the charm and it'll appear."

"So cool! Now, come on. I want your help attaching Festus's wings." Leo gave me a sideways glance. "Wait, are you any good at mechanical stuff?"

"I'd hope so, seeing that your own father taught me for five years." I reached into my bag and pulled out my own set of tools, setting it down onto the nearest worktable. "Let's get to work."

* * *

I'd tried talking Leo out of swooping down into the camp on Festus's back, reminding him that the majority of campers still thought Festus would burn them down if they looked at him the wrong way, but _no_ , we had to give Festus an entrance that nobody would ever forget.

Truth be told, he was right, because the second the first satyr saw us and passed out, the entire camp went on high alert. Younger campers and newbies from various cabins raced the other way, screaming their heads off, while the older campers, like Butch, Luke, Will, and Nyssa ran towards Festus, their weapons drawn.

As for me, I had my fingers digging into the plates of Festus's back, not wanting to get bucked off onto the ground from thirty feet in the air. Leo, on the other hand, had a grand old time maneuvering Festus to the ground, shouting, "Don't kill me! It's cool! Don't shoot!" as he lowered us into the middle of a green clearing.

Once Festus firmly landed on the ground, I slid off, numbly patting the dragon's flank as I moved to stand next to Leo, my legs feeling like jelly again. I don't recommend riding the back of a mechanical dragon without a good saddle, not unless you want to learn what it's like to feel your bones vibrating inside of your body.

"It's beautiful," Piper murmured, earning her weird looks, especially from Ares campers, who really wanted to kill something. They'd gone a little stir crazy after the Titan War…yeah, capture the flag games had grown increasingly violent to say the least, if the infirmary count was anything to go by.

Then Festus shot a stream of fire into the air, causing more campers to either scramble away and panic or tighten their grips on their weapons, waiting for someone to take the lead against the dragon.

"Festus, no," I admonished, causing for the dragon's ruby eyes to stare down at me like a kicked puppy.

"People of Earth, I come in peace!" Leo shouted. "Festus is just saying hello!"

"That thing is dangerous!" June, an Ares girl, shouted, brandishing her spear. "Kill it now!"

"Stand down!" Jason ordered, jostling his way to the front of the crowd. He took a moment to look at Leo and me, which I completely understood.

After all, the both of us were covered from head to toe in grease and oil and soot. Not to mention that Leo had nabbed that magical tool belt from Bunker 9 and was proudly wearing it around his waist, the thing a startlingly bright orange in comparison to the blackness that covered our clothes.

"Leo, what have you done?" Jason asked in amazement, staring at Festus with a mixture of worry and awe.

"And what are you covered in?" asked Luke, who had made his way through the crowd as well, eying the oil suspiciously. "Where _were_ you two last night?"

"The woods," I answered tersely.

"And I found us a ride!" Leo beamed. "You said I could go on the quest if I got you a ride. Well, I got you a class-A metallic flying bad boy! Festus can take us anywhere!"

"It – it has wings," Nyssa stammered. Her jaw looked like it might drop off her face.

"Yeah!" Leo said. "I found them and reattached them, with a little help from Andy, of course."

"But it never had wings. Where did you find them?"

"In…the woods," Leo answered, continuing with my line of answers. "Repaired his circuits, too, mostly, so no problems with him going haywire."

"Mostly?" Nyssa asked.

The dragon's head twitched. It tilted its head to the side and a stream of black liquid – oil – poured out of its ear, all over Leo.

"Just a few kinks to work out," Leo said, trying to wipe the oil out of his eyes. But all he ended up doing was smearing it around his face even more.

I took pity on him and reversed time on his clothing, leaving him standing in perfectly clean clothes, the same way they'd been when he arrived yesterday. Some of the newer campers, who didn't know I could control time, stared at me like I'd grown a second head, but Leo just smiled in gratitude.

"But how did you survive…?" Nyssa continued staring at Festus in awe. "I mean, the fire breath…"

"I was there," I said, shooting Leo a look that told him to be quiet. "I heard a trap go off and found Leo there, so when the dragon, Festus, tried to shoot fire at him, I absorbed the impact."

"You can control fire, too?" Piper asked in amazement.

I cracked a smile. "There's a lot you don't know about me, Piper. But yeah, fire and time are two things that I can control."

"So, am I on this quest or not?" Leo asked, stepping aside before Festus could dump more oil on his head.

Jason scratched his head. "You named him Festus? You know that in Latin, 'festus' means 'happy'? You want us to ride off to save the world on Happy the Dragon?"

Festus twitched and shuddered and flapped his wings.

"That's a yes, bro!" Leo said. "Now, um, I'd really like to get going, guys. I already picked up some supplies in the – um, in the woods. And all these people with weapons are making Festus nervous."

Jason frowned. "But we haven't planned anything yet. We can't just-"

"Go," Annabeth said. She was the only other camper who didn't look nervous at all. Her expression was sad and wistful, probably remembering the similarities between this and the time she and Percy and Tyson fled camp on the back of hippocampi to save Grover from the Sea of Monsters.

"Jason, you've only got three days until the solstice now, and you should never keep a nervous dragon waiting," she continued. "This is certainly a good omen. Go!"

Jason nodded. Then he smiled at Piper. "You ready, partner?"

"You bet," she said.

"Wait, just a second before you go," I said, cleaning myself off before pulling out my bag. "If I'm right about where you're going, you'll need these, you three."

I handed each of the questers warm winter jackets as well as baggies of ambrosia. Leo tied his jacket around his waist, Piper tugged hers on, and Jason hesitantly accepted it, staring at my bag.

"I know you," Jason said as he took the jacket from my hand, wincing from trying to access a memory that was no longer there. "Please, tell me how I know you."

Before I could say anything, Leo saved me by saying, "Come on, Jason. The world isn't going to save itself!"

Jason, knowing that he couldn't put off his quest any longer, sent me one last meaningful look before accepting Leo's help onto Festus's back. Leo then tightened his grip on the reigns and took off, the trio heading north towards Quebec.

"To your normal activities," I exclaimed, ignoring the groans of campers as they headed back to their cabins, complaining about not getting to ride the "cool metal dragon" as I heard some people call Festus.

Eventually, it was just Luke, Annabeth, and me in the clearing.

Annabeth was completely dressed, prepared to continue in her search for Percy, wearing a gray winter coat with her dagger strapped to her side, a backpack slung over her shoulder. Luke, on the other hand, had hastily thrown on a breast plate over his pajamas, barefoot in the middle of the camp, clearly acting first and thinking second in the midst of all the chaos.

"Where are you going now?" I asked, cleaning up the remaining oil from the clearing before any of the nature spirits pelted us with acorns.

Annabeth sighed, running her hand through her messy blonde hair. "Honestly, I don't even know at this point. I guess…maybe it's time to visit Sally. Gods knows how she's taking this."

"Not well, I imagine. It's her worst nightmare come true."

"Exactly," Annabeth agreed. "After that, I don't know what I'm supposed to do."

Luke shook his head bitterly. "First, Olympus closes without any warning, and now Percy's been kidnapped by the least helpful goddess alive. What's next, Andy's used as a human sacrifice?"

I flinched, remembering my nightmare with Gaea a few months ago. "Don't say that, Luke, not even as a joke." I turned to Annabeth and pulled her into a side hug. "I'll go meet up with Nico to see if there's any news on the Underworld side of things. And have you tried reaching out to the Party Ponies yet?"

Annabeth's eyes lit up slightly. "That's as good a start as any. Thanks, Andy."

"No problem, kiddo."

"Wait," Luke said. "Annabeth, who's your buddy?"

"I don't have one."

"Unacceptable," Luke declared before linking arms with Annabeth, hiding a grimace as his forearm bumped into her elbow. "I am now your buddy."

"What about Andy?" Annabeth asked, raising her eyebrows at the son of Hermes. "Who will be her buddy?"

"That's not necessary," I said. "Goddess, remember? I can only be kidnapped with Celestial bronze chains."

"That's what Hera thought before she got herself kidnapped," Annabeth snapped.

I pinched the bridge of my nose in exasperation. "But I'm not Hera. I always act like my life's in constant danger, because let's be honest, it is most of the time. If I think something's about to go wrong, I'll get out of there as fast as I can."

"I sure hope so." Annabeth gave me one last hug. "I can't bear to lose you, too."

"You can't get rid of me that easily, Annabeth. I'll be back as soon as I can."

"Be careful," Luke said, giving me a quick peck on the lips before walking back towards his cabin with Annabeth, wanting to be properly dressed if he was going to leave Camp Half-Blood for the day.

I waited for a few moments after my friends had left before I faded away into my own shadow, reappearing in the middle of Hades' throne room. The god of the Underworld was nowhere to be found, neither was his wife, but I could tell that he was either on his way or he'd recently left from the way that the torches were still brightly burning, and the guards were still on high alert.

"Father, I've been-" someone began before stopping abruptly. "Andy?" Nico asked, pushing his shaggy hair out of his face. "What are you doing here?"

"Looking for you," I answered truthfully, giving Nico a once over. "What happened?"

"None of your business," he snapped, pulling his shredded aviator's jacket tightly around his skeletal frame.

Dark circles hung under Nico's eyes, much darker than they should be for any thirteen-year-old boy. His black jeans were shredded at the knees, like he'd fallen on the side of the road and then got dragged behind a car. Blood stained his shoes, the sleeves of his jacket, and a nasty gash ran the length of his eyebrow. Bluish-black bruises surrounded Nico's knuckles, like he'd just punched someone's lights out. Red scratches covered the left side of Nico's face, almost like he'd lost a fight to a feral cat, but judging from the way the blood oozed, a cat's claws couldn't have caused those scratches.

I took a step forward, and he flinched, as if he was expecting to be hit.

"Can I please help you?" I asked, holding my hands up in a placating manner. "I won't ask any questions about how this happened, but I want to make sure you're physically okay."

"Someone said I had internal bleeding," he muttered, wincing as he pressed a hand against his ribs.

I about choked on my own spit. "I'm sorry, _what?"_

"But that's fine," he shrugged. "My blood's supposed to stay in my body, anyways."

"Internal bleeding is not good! Please, Nico, let me help you."

"Yeah, okay," he agreed before pitching forward, having completely blacked out before he even hit the floor.

I swore violently as I scooped Nico's limp body into my arms, shadow-traveling us to the palace's infirmary and setting him down on the first table I saw. My mind stopped thinking as I pulled on a pair of latex gloves, muscle memory guiding my actions as the first thing I did was force a square of ambrosia down Nico's throat while I prepared for emergency surgery if it came to that.

Pushing all thoughts of Percy aside, there were only two things I wondered right now: What happened to Nico, and who did I have to kill for doing this?

* * *

 **Everyone, we've made it to over 41,000 views on this story!**

 **I'm so beyond grateful to all of you who have been here since the start and to anyone who ever took the time to read Andy's story!**

 **Thank you all so much! Love you all!**


	58. Chapter 58

"God damn it, Nico," I swore as I snapped my fingers, countless wires leaping into position on his limp body, giving me his vitals. I quickly set Nico up on an IV and sped up his blood work, wincing when I noticed his white blood cell count.

Preparing for the worst, I grabbed an ultrasound, poured the blue gel over Nico's abdomen, and moved the wand around, deeply troubled by the amount of free fluid I saw on the monitor. Whatever he'd been fighting didn't let him walk away without some serious damage.

I'd managed to force some more ambrosia down Nico's throat as well as infuse his IV with nectar, but I knew I'd still have to act if I didn't want Nico to die in front of me. I hung a unit of blood – which some of the skeletal guards had managed to get for me, though I don't know where they got it from – and set the transfusion rate, impatiently pacing back and forth as I waited for another minute to see if anything improved.

By the way, the answer to my inquiry was no, causing me to sigh in exasperation as I pulled my hair up into a bun, pulled a surgical mask over my face, and added some morphine and sedatives to Nico's IV as I picked up a scalpel.

"I apologize for this in advance," I said before bringing the scalpel down onto Nico's stomach.

* * *

Hades found me six hours later, his face paler than usual when he saw me covered in blood. I'd wanted to get changed earlier, but I got distracted by sanitizing the rest of my surgical tools.

"Please tell me that this is not your blood," Hades gulped as I tossed my bloodied face mask and gloves into the nearest garbage can.

"Nope, not mine," I assured him, reaching up to let my hair down as I was beginning to get a headache. "It's Nico's."

" _What?"_

"Yeah, he got hurt pretty badly. I managed to fix him up, but it was…messy to say the least."

"Do you know what hurt him?" Hades demanded, his expression so dark that it rivaled Erebus himself.

"Well, it's something that uses brute force," I started to explain, waving for Hades to follow me towards the infirmary, where Nico currently resided. "Luckily for Nico, I didn't find any traces of any kind of poison, so that rules out a lot of monsters, believe it or not. From all the evidence – his wounds and his story, that is – I believe he was hit by a car."

Hades gave me an incredulous look. "You seriously think my son was hit by a car? Of everything he's ever faced, a _car_ is what brought him closest to death?"

"Yup."

The god of the Underworld pinched the bridge of his nose and shook his head in exasperation. "Just take me to see Nico. I don't believe this."

I shrugged. "Believe whatever you want to believe, Hades, but I'm telling you someone almost ran Nico over."

When we got to the infirmary, I pulled out some of Nico's x-rays and sonograms and placed them against the white board, grabbing a marker and circling some key injuries on the pictures. Then I rummaged through my bag until I found some of my notes from my time under Apollo's mentoring until I found x-rays and sonograms of car crash victims. I threw those onto the board as well, marking the similarities between the photos.

"How are you sure that this wasn't some Cyclops hitting him with a club?" Hades asked, unable to peel his eyes away from the images I had on the board.

"Because then his ribs would've looked like this," I said, shifting over the images and placing one of a victim who'd learned the hard way what a club to the ribs could do.

Hades winced at how shattered the person's ribcage was. "Fair point, Andy. But what was my son doing in the middle of the road in the first place?"

"No clue. He passed out before I could ask him anything."

I grabbed a glass of water and poured it over some of the thicker bandages over Nico's abdomen, willing the water to heal him. Though I was a goddess, I wasn't one of healing, so I was limited to what my own powers could do. So if it meant dumping Nico in a pool to close up these wounds, I would.

"I'm trying to get this to heal without a scar," I told Hades as I poured another cup of water over Nico. "But we'll see."

Hades nodded, still numb to the severity of the situation.

"So what exactly were you doing down here?" Hades asked, turning away from the horrific images, taking a seat next to Nico. As much as many people would like to claim that Hades hated his children, that's not the case. He was just afraid if he got too close to them, Zeus would kill them before they could utter their first words.

"I was looking for Nico," I answered, adjusting the rate of Nico's morphine intake. "I don't know if you've heard, but Percy Jackson's gone missing."

"Has he?" Hades asked, raising an eyebrow, seemingly happier than anything about the son of Poseidon's disappearance. "Such a shame."

"I know you don't like him. But he's a big part of Camp Half-Blood, and Annabeth's lost her mind with worry over this. That's why Nico agreed to help to search for Percy."

"What about you? Aren't you that boy's guardian angel?"

My cheeks burned with shame. I turned away from Hades, unable to look at him in the eyes.

"I see," was all he said, sounding somewhat pleased with what I'd done. "I didn't think you had it in you, but you've proven me wrong. Clearly you are capable of darker things than I previously imagined."

My jaw dropped. "Do you…do you think I murdered him? Because I would never do such a thing, never in a million years, _especially_ not to the boy who's practically my younger brother!"

"Then where is the boy?"

"I can't say."

"Not even to me? My, this must be serious, indeed."

"You have no idea," I muttered. "Look, can you just tell Nico I was looking for him and to send me an Iris-message when he wakes up? I'll even cover the call." I placed a drachma onto the table holding Nico's sword.

Hades just smirked. "Sure thing, sister dear. But just so we're clear, we will be continuing this conversation at a later date. I would love to see how this turns out."

I forced a smile, which probably came out as a grimace. "Of course. We'll keep in touch."

Let's just say, I've never run towards the shadows faster than any other time in my life, my face still aflame with embarrassment as I landed in the middle of an extremely clean sewer pipe, the sound of laughter echoing nearby.

It didn't take me long to figure out where I'd landed, even though I was positive I'd pictured returning back to Camp Half-Blood. I guess the Fates were interfering again, like always, but I didn't mind. After all, I'd always been curious about what Medea's store looked like.

I knew I was heading in the right direction when I heard, "Chef Leo's Taco Garage is fixing you up! And by the way, it's tofu, not beef, beauty queen, so don't freak. Just dig in!"

A couple more dead ends and wrong turns later, I eventually found Leo, Piper, and Jason sitting around a small fire, scarfing down the tofu tacos Leo had made. When they finally noticed me, Leo nearly choked on his taco, to the point where Piper violently patted his back to prevent him from dying.

Jason, on the other hand, paled whiter than fallen snow. "Andy?" he asked, his gaze once again drifting towards my left forearm, which was completely bare at the moment. "What are you doing here?"

"How did you get here is the better question," Leo said, wiping away some saliva from the corner of his mouth.

"Yeah, how _did_ you get here?" Piper asked, swallowing the last bit of her taco. "It took us a day to get here, give or take."

"Shadow-traveling," I answered. Then I saw her ankle and frowned. "What happened?" I asked, pointing to the makeshift splint around her ankle.

Piper blushed. "I landed on my feet when we fell off of Festus the first time."

"The first time?"

"We've been having some, uh, technical difficulties," Leo laughed nervously, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Here, let me help. Jason, help me move Piper towards the water."

The three of them were genuinely confused about what I was about to do, but despite their concerns, Jason still helped me lower Piper's bad ankle into the water, being careful not to jostle her leg too much.

Leo scrunched up his nose in disgust. "This can't be sanitary, Pipes."

"Yeah, but what other choice do I have? I'm not going to be a cripple for the rest of this quest if there's another way to heal my ankle that won't cause me to burn up into ashes."

"Fair point."

"I'm not going to lie, this is going to hurt for a moment," I said, gently setting my hands on either side of Piper's splint, causing her to wince.

"Just do it," she said through gritted teeth, holding onto Jason's hand for dear life.

I didn't give her any warning before I pressed my hands against her ankle, forcing the water to set the bones and ligaments back into place. Piper screamed and clutched Jason's hand so hard that I thought she was going to break his hand, meaning I'd have to do this all over again.

Once I was sure her ankle was back in its proper place, I said, "Could you flex your toes for me, Piper?"

She did, gasping in surprise when she realized that it no longer hurt to move her foot. "Woah. Thanks, Andy."

"I think I might need your help next," Jason laughed, revealing his almost purple hand from how tightly Piper had been squeezing.

"Okay, let me see. Because that's going to bruise even if you don't have any broken fingers, and trust me, bruised hands aren't fun."

I took Jason's hand into my own, waving the water over his skin for a few moments before returning it back into the little rivulet from the sewer. Jason stared at his hand, turning it over, smiling slightly when he saw that the bruises had faded before they had a chance to get any worse.

"Well, if you're gonna be healing everyone," Leo said, "is it too late for me to smash my thumb with a hammer?"

I laughed. "Sure, I could heal that if you want, but I don't recommend smashing any part of your body with a hammer."

"Boo. You're no fun."

"Well, now that you're here," Jason said, "are you a part of our quest? Because I thought the prophecy only said-"

"Yeah, it wasn't my intention to shadow-travel here, but I guess something went wrong or the Fates just really wanted me to run into you guys. But it's not like I'd be much help anyways."

Leo shook his head, scoffing in surprise. "Not much help? Andy, if you'd been here with us from the beginning, I'm sure we could've rescued Hera by now."

I shrugged. "I don't think the Fates would be too happy about that. But since I'm here now, you three rest. I'll keep watch."

"I can't ask that of you," Jason stated, his lips pressed into a firm line, the same expression he'd make during Senate meetings once his mind was made up about an issue. "You should be helping Annabeth look for Percy. Taking care of us, that's too much."

I waved off his concern, having expected an answer along those lines. "Jason, this wouldn't be the first time I've accidentally stumbled into my friends' quests before, and they all tried to do the same thing. Now, I know we've just met, but let me tell you something: I never leave my friends behind."

"You see us as your friends?" Piper asked, eyes wide. "But you just met us!"

"I'm a pretty good judge of character," I said. "Anyways, I'm not leaving until the three of you are all asleep. I'm keeping watch tonight, no ands, ifs, or buts about it."

Jason seemed like he wanted to keep arguing, but he looked down and saw Piper already fast asleep in his in his lap, curled into a tight ball. Leo began nodding off, too, turning over the dying coals of the fire with his bare hands before also curling up into a ball, using his army jacket as a makeshift pillow.

However, Jason didn't fall asleep for a long time, merely staring at my forearm.

"I know you," he said, his voice thick with exhaustion. "I don't know how, but I've known you for longer than a day."

I sighed. "Promise to keep this a secret until later notice?"

"How long is later notice?"

"Like four or five more days. By the end of the week, at the latest."

Jason bit his lip but nodded anyways.

I waved my hand over my left forearm, revealing the six barred lines underneath the omega. I placed a finger to my lips, urging Jason to be quiet as he'd gasped quite loudly, causing Piper to stir a little before she fell back asleep.

"You're like me?" he asked, his blue eyes wide with curiosity. "You know where I'm from, why Hera brought me here?"

"I do," I said, waving my hand again, the lines quickly fading away from my skin. "But until your memories come back, I can't tell you anything about your past life. I'm so sorry."

Jason deflated at my statement but nodded in understanding anyways. "Okay. Still, that makes me feel a million times better."

"I'm glad. Now, would you please go to sleep? I promise I'm a good guard."

"I'm starting to realize that," Jason said. Within seconds, he was sleeping as well, his head resting against his chest while Piper snored softly in his lap.

I smiled at the sight in front of me, zapping the dying fire with a new burst of energy, keeping the warmth going in the freezing sewer underneath Chicago.

* * *

True to my word, I never fell asleep while the trio slept, keeping the fire going until Leo eventually stirred. Jason quickly followed suit, having sensed someone else wake up, and then Piper, who felt Jason shifting under her head.

While the three rubbed the sleep out of their eyes, I rummaged through my bag, pressing chocolate chip cereal bars into their hands. Leo gave it a quick once over, shrugged, tore open the wrapper, and happily ate his breakfast while Piper and Jason shot him questioning looks.

"What?" he asked, his mouth full. "Do I have something on my face?"

"Where did these come from?" Jason asked.

"Her bag," Leo replied, like the answer should've been obvious.

"Yeah, but she didn't have a bag with her last night," Piper pointed out, gently lowering the cereal bar onto the floor. "Look, I've gotten in enough trouble for 'stealing' before. I'm not going to run the chance of us getting arrested when we're on a quest."

"I didn't steal these," I said gently, watching as Leo's expression darkened and he stood up, muttering something about putting out the fire. "And I didn't steal this bag either. It's enchanted to collapse into a charm when I don't need it. See?"

I tapped the brooch twice, and my bag collapsed into a small golden, purse-shaped charm onto my bracelet, dangling innocuously among my assortment of weapons and armor. I tugged onto the charm again, my bag returning to my lap.

"I always have this with me, and I keep a ton of stuff in there," I explained. "Seriously, you have no idea the amount of first aid supplies I've pulled out of this bag over the past decade. Saved your sister's life at one point," I said, looking at Jason.

"You've…you've met my sister?"

I nodded. "Was on the run with her for a few months before we reached camp. Look, I know you all have a ton of questions, especially you, Jason, but there is such thing as a deadline for your quest."

"She's right," Piper agreed, pausing only for a moment to pick up her cereal bar before getting onto her feet. "Let's see where this sewer leads us. The _venti_ were here last night; they can't have gone too far."

"Follow the green piping," I said, pointing out the oxygen line that ran across the top of the sewer. "You should find a department store at the end of the tunnel."

Jason raised his eyebrows. "For someone who isn't on this quest, you sure know a lot about what we're up against."

"Eh, being a goddess has its perks," I shrugged.

Leo just about choked on his own spit. "I'm sorry, _goddess?"_

"Oh, speaking of which, I can't let you go without these."

I pulled out a little white box from my bag, one that most people would use to keep medication in when they traveled. In my case, I used it for organizing my smaller pieces of magical items that I've collected over the years, like a scale from a mermaid, the bottled breath of a dragon, unicorn horn shavings, and other odds and ends.

I popped open one of the dividers, fishing out four opaque gel discs, then pressed two into Leo and Jason's hands.

"What are these things?" Leo asked, rolling one of the discs between his index finger and his thumb, bringing it up to his eye to inspect it.

"Magical ear plugs."

"What do they do?" Jason asked, eying them suspiciously. "And why doesn't Piper need a pair?"

"She's immune to charmspeak. You two, on the other hand, are not. And something tells me that you're about to face someone who has very powerful charmspeak, stronger than yours, Piper." She winced. "Not to worry, I think with some practice you'll be the most powerful charmspeaking demigod of our time. Just be careful about who you're about to meet."

"And who's the lucky monster we get to destroy?" Leo said, placing the discs inside his ears.

I bit my lip. "I'm not allowed to say. Oh, and one other thing, and I promise you guys can leave."

"Another gift?" Piper asked, the corners of her lips quirking upward in an almost smile.

"How'd you know?" I said sarcastically. I started moving through all the charms on my bracelet before finally stopping on one, yanking it, causing for a silver dagger about eighteen inches to appear in my hands. I gave it to Piper, who looked unsure of the weapon. "You'll need this on your quest. Try not to lose it before then."

"I'll do my best," Piper said, her voice unsteady as she slipped the dagger into the sheath that I also had given her.

"I don't mean that I expect it back. It's just that if you lose it, the dagger will return to my bracelet, and that'll mean you won't have it when you need it."

"Oh." Piper sighed in relief. "I thought this was some heirloom or something."

"Nah, I don't have any family for heirlooms to be passed down. I just took this from the camp's armory."

"No family?"

I waved off her question. "Don't worry about it. Now, off you go. I'm sure Hera doesn't appreciate being in that cage longer than she needs to be."

Jason stopped dead in his tracks. "Wait, how did you-?"

"Bye!" I exclaimed, leaping back into my own shadow, heading back for the Underworld to go check on Nico.

* * *

"Oh, Bob, you didn't have to do that!" I said as I walked into the infirmary, watching as the silvery haired Titan continued to mop the still blood-stained floor. "I was going to take care of it."

"The nice girl doesn't need to worry," Bob said, a serene smile on his face as he wrung out his mop, dunked it back into his bucket, and resumed his mopping. "This is Bob's job. Bob likes cleaning."

"Can I at least help?"

Bob shook his head. "Bob doesn't need help. The boy, my friend, needs help. Please help my friend, nice girl. I tried, but it was too big an ouchie."

I ignored the pang of sadness in my heart at the thought of what was going to happen to Bob in the upcoming year, numbly walking towards Nico's bedside and checking out his vitals (which happened to be surprisingly good, given the circumstances).

I kept up small talk with Bob as he continued cleaning the rest of the infirmary from the mess I'd created. He seemed more than happy to indulge me in my request to stay until I was done, as he was just as curious about Nico's well-being as he was about my sudden appearance.

"You haven't come by in a long time," Bob commented, resting his chin on the top of his five foot tall mop, his foot behind one of the bucket's wheels to prevent it from rolling away and spilling. "Bob was starting to worry if you were okay."

I managed to crack a smile at Bob's concern, locking the brakes on the x-ray machine as I moved it back to its spot, waiting for the film to develop in the adjacent printer. "I'm doing great, Bob, thanks for asking."

"That makes Bob very happy. He is always very happy to see you, nice girl."

"Feel free to call me Andy, if you want."

"An-dy?" Bob spoke carefully, like he was unsure of how to pronounce my name. He scratched his head. "That is difficult, your name."

"Well, my full name is Andromeda, but I think that-"

"I like Andromeda," Bob decided, never missing a beat on my name this time, extremely pleased with himself. "Andromeda is much easier than An-Uh-"

"Andy," I finished gently. "Okay, call me Andromeda if it's easier for you, Bob. Or if you want, call me nice girl. I don't care."

"But names are important!" he exclaimed, spazzing so hard that he whacked himself in the face with the mop handle, causing his nose to snap with a sickening _crunch!_

"Bob!" I shouted, quickly moving his cleaning supplies aside as I helped him onto a spare table, asking for him to show me his nose.

Gold ichor flowed from Bob's nose like a waterfall, staining his janitorial clothes and his skin. Even though he was still cupping his nose, I could see the misshapenness from the broken bone, dark circles starting to bloom around his eyes as a result.

"Don't worry about Bob," Bob said. He pressed a finger against his broken nose, said, "Owie," and didn't even flinch as the bone snapped back into place, something that would've made most people scream for their mommies.

Grabbing some wipes, I gently dabbed at the ichor on Bob's face, wiping until he no longer appeared like he'd bitten into the leg of a god. He'd managed to heal himself so well that there was no evidence that he'd broken his nose other than the ichor staining his clothes and the floor.

Bob frowned at the mess on the floor, mumbling, "I'm sorry for bleeding everywhere," before grabbing his mop and beginning to mop the floors again.

"Don't worry about it," I told Bob, stopping him before he soaked the entire floor. I waved a hand over the floor and his clothes, reverting them back to their cleaner states. "There we go. Good as new."

Bob sniffed softly. "Bob didn't mean to make a mess. Bob just wanted to let you know that names are important."

I nodded earnestly. "Yes, I agree. Names are important. So, Bob, want to see Nico's x-rays?"

He clapped his hands together like an excited child. "Oh, yes, Andromeda! Bob would love to see healing in a demigod's body!"

I laughed as I walked over to the printer, grabbing the film and placing it up against the lit up board. Bob watched on with childlike enthusiasm, once again filling me with unimaginable sadness. But I suppressed those dark thoughts, choosing to talk about Nico's fractures, pushing away any notion of the future for now.


	59. Chapter 59

When I returned to Camp Half-Blood a few hours later, I found Leah standing right outside of Hera's cabin with a torch in her hand, her eye twitching irritably as Rachel led Annabeth back to cabin six.

"I should drop this torch and let this place burn," Leah seethed, having quickly become protective over Annabeth since the last time they met, which was in August. I didn't bother asking how she'd gotten through the barrier, more concerned about the fact that some god would still curse her for burning down cabin two.

"Easy girl," I said, lowering Leah's hand, placing my own palm against the base of the fire and absorbing it, extinguishing the torch. "I know you're upset, but we can't go setting cabins on fire when we're upset."

"The Hunters of Artemis did it a few years back!" a passing daughter of Hebe said, which only made Leah smile smugly as I grabbed her by the wrist, leading her to one of the picnic tables by the cabins.

"Point is," I continued, "even the Hunters were wrong to burn down the cabins. It took them years to rebuild…Anyways, I know you're upset about Hera's actions."

"Damn right I am," Leah said, slamming her hands against the table so aggressively that the wood creaked. "She has absolutely no right, goddess or not, to kidnap the boy that kept her posh ass on her throne and make Annabeth, who also played a major role in keeping her alive, suffer like this! This isn't fair!"

I winced. "You might want to be careful about how you speak about the Queen of Olympus," I warned, noticing the growing storm clouds overhead. "If Hera doesn't strike you down herself, I guarantee Zeus will. That being said, I agree with you. I think there was a better way to go about what Hera has planned than kidnapping two boys."

"Two? There's _another_ boy?" Leah looked like she was about to march up to Olympus and slap Hera across the face herself. Not that I would've blamed her. Before I came to this Earth, I thought the exact same things, even coming up with a page full of insults I could call Hera for being so reckless and insensitive about her actions.

I gave Leah the _Reader's Digest_ version of everything that had happened over the past five days, starting with Percy's disappearance. By the time I finished, Leah was a brighter shade of red than the Ares cabin, her jaw clenched, her hands tight fists by her sides.

"I can't believe it!" Leah fumed. "My God, this is…ugh, how is Percy's mom taking this, by the way? I can't imagine the news went over well with her."

"It was heartbreaking to send that Iris-message," I admitted, remembering the way Sally had collapsed to her knees, her voice breaking as she begged for me to say that I was joking, that Percy was just wandering somewhere inside the camp's borders. I remember saying those dreadful words again, hearing her sob something awful, my own heart wrenching in my chest as I heard the cries of a distraught mother over her only child.

"Well, if I can't help by knocking some sense into Hera, what can I do? I will literally send the boys to scour the entire U.S. if that's what it takes."

I chewed on my bottom lip. "I'm sure Annabeth would appreciate the enthusiasm. I'd ask her first, though, because while I'd love for you guys to help, I don't want to put you five into any unnecessary danger."

Leah rolled her eyes at me, placing a hand on her hip. "Seriously, you act like you didn't spend the past few months training us in this kind of thing. And, by the way, the five of us continued with different types of self-defense classes, so we all practice with each other, keeping us in shape."

My eyes traveled to the silver pendant glimmering at the base of her throat – a simple arrow hanging from a black leather cord. Her fingers moved upward, tracing the head of the arrow with the tip of her index finger.

"I'm always armed, like you," Leah said, sounding calmer than she had been earlier. "Please, Andy, I want to help Annabeth in any way that I can. If I lost Pete-"

"You're dating Pete?!"

Leah gave a nervous laugh, twirling a strand of her long black hair, swaying back and forth. "We started dating on Halloween, but I kinda wish we'd started earlier. It's just, I really care about him, and if I were ever in Annabeth's situation, God forbid, I'd like all the help I could get."

"Go ask Annabeth, then," I sighed, relenting to Leah's desperate want to help.

"I will. But what about you?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you just arrived, haven't you? That must mean you have news of some kind."

"Other than I ran into Jason's quest a few hours ago, and they seem to be on track, I haven't learned anything about Percy's whereabouts," I explained. "Plus, I couldn't ask Nico, seeing that I had to keep him from dying from what I suspect was a hit and run."

Leah's eyes widened. "All of this happened in one day?" I nodded; she whistled lowly. "Wow, your life is _way_ more hectic than you make it out to be. Okay, so I'm gonna go talk to Annabeth now. I'll see you before I leave, yeah?"

"Of course."

"Great." Leah gave me a fierce hug, sighing in relief. "You're surprisingly warm seeing how cold it is and all. Funny, huh? Alright, I'll be going now."

I chuckled softly to myself as Leah made her way to cabin six, pausing by the front door as she knocked politely, waiting to be let in by Rachel. The Oracle quickly let Leah enter, shutting the door behind the both of them as they probably went back to comforting Annabeth.

As for me, after checking that no one way paying me much attention, I headed for the Big House, determined to do some more research in the restricted section of the library. My gods, I sound like Hermione Granger. Not that that was a bad thing, just pointing out similarities, that's all.

I mean, technically speaking, the entire library was forbidden.

Still, once I got inside, I found my stockpile of books I'd hidden underneath a collapsed table, carefully moving the splintered wood aside as my fingers finally closed around my reading material.

All of these books were everything I could find about the giants and primordials, knowing that being informed of potential weakness could greatly increase the chances of taking down these monsters with less of a headache.

I found myself spending a lot of time reading up on Tartarus, shivering whenever I stared too long at the shimmering illustrations of a place that could only be described as the stuff of nightmares. And this is coming from a girl who spent a great deal of time helping set up eternal torment for souls in the Fields of Punishment.

No, in all honesty, of everything I'd come face to face with over the past ten years, nothing terrified me as much as Tartarus. I still remembered the first time I saw the pit, when I was fourteen, standing in front of the Olympian council as they deliberated over what to do with me. I remembered the overwhelming feeling of helplessness as I got sucked into the abyss, the layers of reality peeling away until I stared at something that could drive even the strongest person to complete and utter madness if left looking at it for too long.

I forced myself to shut the book on Tartarus once I reached the part about the Mansion of Night. Every fiber of my being told me that there was something so innately wrong about even imagining any human being, demigod, or mortal being forced to endure that hell pit, especially when the primordial whose realm it was is literally the personification of evil, even more so than my deranged father.

"You must keep studying," I heard Atropos whisper in the back of my mind, sending shivers down my spine. "We know you know what will come to pass."

A single tear made its way down my cheek. "I've guessed about this for a long time now. Please tell me I'm wrong."

"Sadly, you're not. I'm, _we're,_ deeply sorry, Andromeda."

I sniffed as I wiped away one other tear, getting up only so I could hide all the books again. I swore to myself right then and there that I wasn't going to tell another soul about what I knew would happen to me, not even to Luke or Chiron or Apollo himself if any of them came begging.

Who knew that by agreeing to save my friends I'd have to go to Tartarus twice?

* * *

I spent the rest of the day back as the swordsmanship teacher, giving Fred from Hermes a break from the younger campers, who would sooner impale themselves on the end of their swords than use them correctly.

I'd wanted to hang out with Luke and Will, like we used to do, but Luke had gone out with Annabeth again after hearing from Grover that a nymph thought she'd seen Percy by Niagara Falls.

And as for Will, ever since Percy's wish on his birthday for the gods to get their kids to camp by the time they were thirteen, he was swamped in the infirmary, treating more sprains, fractures, and cuts than he knew what to do with. Thankfully, his sister, Kayla Knowles, was more than willing to help Will in the infirmary.

While I would've been glad to offer my services, the thought of Kayla being in the infirmary with us instead of Cleo was too painful to bear. Even though it'd been a year since the death of my best friend, it still brought a fresh wave of pain whenever I thought of her.

It didn't help matters that when I tried to find her soul in Elysium, Nico had handed me a thick packet, one which I instantly recognized as the papers we gave out to any soul trying for rebirth. And at the bottom of the page were two strikingly familiar signatures: Cleo's and Nico's.

"She told me to give you this before she left," Nico had said before taking Cleo's papers back, handing me a small, sky blue diary, the kind that had the really cool fuzzy pen attached to the side of it.

"Was she happy?" I'd managed to ask, shaking as I accepted the diary from Nico, hugging it tightly to my chest.

"Yes. Cleo seemed to be at peace with her decision, and I'd like to think she wants you to be at peace, too." Then Nico had patted me on the back before shadow-traveling away, leaving me alone to mourn the loss of my best friend yet again in the middle of Elysium, the deserving souls staring at me with a mix of curiosity and pity.

I still had Cleo's diary, finding that I would reread her last letter to me whenever I missed her the most. And while I knew that I should move on, it still hurt like Kronos himself had attempted reaping my soul with his scythe.

"Uh, Miss Andy?" the youngest son of Nemesis asked, raising his hand. "When can we start?"

That managed to break me out of my stupor as I tightened my grip on my sword, realizing that I was still in charge of a class of fourteen children all under the age of ten, all armed with swords that were almost as tall as them.

"Go ahead and begin," I said, resuming my role as a teacher. "But do be careful. I don't think Will would appreciate having to attach anymore limbs this week."

"Tell that to Paolo," a boy snickered before getting slapped upside the head by his partner.

"She was talking about Paolo!"

"Ohhhh."

"Yes, 'Ohhhh.' Come on, pick up your sword."

I laughed softly to myself at the interaction before stepping back to watch all the partners spar, walking around to offer advice whenever I thought it was necessary. Eventually it was time for the children to leave, and luckily enough, I didn't have to send anyone holding a severed limb to Will.

Seeing that that had been the last class of the day, I began heading for the dining pavilion, before I felt a pounding in my head. Though this time, instead of feeling like my head was being used as an anvil, it was more like a steady pressure, as if someone was poking me between the eyes.

 _Andy, uh, I don't know if you can hear me or not, but there are a ton of wolves who are going to kill us. And, uh, I'm afraid that one silver dagger might not be enough._

 _On my way. Just try not to die in the next three seconds._

 _Sounds like a plan. Hey, Jason-!_

I didn't hesitate to melt into my own shadow, appearing in front of the trio, plus a recently freed Coach Hedge, brandishing a silver sword of my own as I took point, making myself the biggest threat to the pack.

Jason hissed out a warning in Latin, which I responded to by telling him to be quiet, aware of what I was doing.

"My, my, my, look what the goat dragged in," Lycaon drawled, the skin around his lips tinged a dark red, as if he'd just made a recent kill. "Another girl, how pathetic. Do you really think one sword and dagger will be enough to stop my pack?"

"If I decide to play dirty, yeah, most definitely," I quipped, smirking as I watched Lycaon snarl. "But seeing that I am the goddess of wolves, I command you to leave this place and to never harm any of my friends ever again."

"Ha! Goddess of wolves!" Lycaon laughed. "I'll believe that when Tartarus freezes over!"

I scowled at the werewolf king. "Don't believe me? Beta!" I shouted, my gaze narrowing onto the second largest wolf in the pack, a female, her fur matted with even more blood and dirt than Lycaon. "Roll over," I commanded in the most official tone I could muster, feeling Leo flinch beside me from the way I spoke.

"Treating us like some domesticated pet, are you?" Lycaon goaded, trying to step forward, only for me to press the tip of my sword directly against his chest.

"Move, and I swear to every Olympian that I'll run you through. By the way, you should really teach your beta who the alpha is."

And true to my word, there was the beta werewolf rolling around in front of us, whimpering helplessly in front of Lycaon, begging for his forgiveness. Not wanting to embarrass the beta more than necessary, I allowed for her to stop after her third roll, watching as she skulked back to her brethren, hiding in the trees.

"I should kill you all for this," Lycaon growl, his voice low, echoing through the cave. "Beginning with you, Jupiter's boy, seeing that your father is to blame for my condition. I was the powerful mortal king of Arcadia, with fifty fine sons, and Zeus slew them all with his lightning bolts."

"Ha," Coach Hedge said. "For good reason!"

I felt Jason look away. "Coach, you know this clown?"

"Most satyrs, nymphs, and demigods are taught this story," I answered. "So, yeah, we know exactly who Lycaon is."

"You were the mortal king who invited Zeus to dinner," Piper continued, her voice hard. "But you weren't really sure it was Zeus, so to test his powers, you fed him human flesh. Zeus got outraged-"

"And killed my sons!" Lycaon howled. The wolves behind him howled too. I tightened my grip on my sword.

"So Zeus turned Lycaon into a wolf," Piper said. "They call…they call werewolves _lycanthropes,_ named after him, the first werewolf."

"The king of wolves," Coach Hedge finished. "An immortal, smelly, vicious mutt."

Lycaon growled. "I will tear you apart, faun!"

"Oh, you want some goat, buddy? 'Cause I'll give you goat."

"Stop it," Jason said. "Lycaon, you said you _wanted_ to kill me first, but…?"

"Sadly, Child of Rome, you are spoken for. "Since this one" – he waggled his claws at Piper – "has failed to kill you, you are to be delivered alive to the Wolf House. One of my compatriots has asked for the honor of killing you herself."

"As if you could take the Wolf House," I seethed. "Lupa wouldn't go down without a fight."

"Lupa doesn't dare remain close to the Wolf House, especially not now," Lycaon said, a smug grin resting on his face, one I wanted to so desperately chop off.

"I'm not going to tell you again. Take your pack and leave, or I'll kill them all."

He scoffed. "You don't have the guts to do such a thing."

By the end of his sentence, I'd already thrown my sword at the nearest werewolf, causing it to collapse onto its side, melting into a puddle of darkness. I held out my hand, and my sword returned to my grasp, which I promptly pointed back towards Lycaon's sternum.

"Wait just a second before you kill him," Jason asked. "Who wants the honor of killing me at the Wolf House?"

The wolf king snickered. "Oh, a great admirer of yours. Apparently, you made quite an impression on her. She will take care of you soon enough, and really I cannot complain. Spilling your blood at the Wolf House should mark my new territory quite well. Lupa will think twice about challenging my pack."

"Fat chance," I said. "Now scram, before I cover your entire pack in silver powder, keeping you in just enough agony to writhe until you lose your minds but never dying. Don't test me again, Lycaon. I won't be so forgiving next time."

Lycaon laughed, appearing like he was prepared to lunge right at us and call his pack to his side, but a ripping sound shattered the stillness of the night, almost as if someone was ripping cardboard. Then a pure silver arrow struck another wolf, causing it to writhe and howl before it stilled, also melting into a puddle of darkness.

More arrows were shot; more wolves fell. One caught Lycaon in the shoulder, and I took it as my opportunity to stab him in the leg. I'd been aiming for the stomach, but another arrow hit Lycaon in the face, causing him to sway, which led to the leg wound instead. Oh, well, it seemed pretty deep anyways. Hopefully, he'd bleed out somewhere along the way.

"This isn't over, son of Jupiter," Lycaon growled one last time, staring at Jason with pure hatred with those blood red eyes of his before disappearing into the night.

A heartbeat later, more wolves flooded the cave, but these were smaller, more agile. I understood their conversation but didn't partake in it, figuring that there were more important things to be done than listen to the wolves call to their hunters.

And, like I'd expected, six Hunters raced into the cave, Thalia leading the pack. She crouched to the ground, snatching up the arrow that had wounded Lycaon.

"So close," she muttered, wiping off some of the blood from the arrow with the heel of her boot, returning it to her quiver. "Phoebe, stay with me. Watch the entrance. The rest of you, follow Lycaon. We can't lose him now. I'll catch up with you."

The other Hunters mumbled agreement and disappeared, heading after Lycaon's pack.

Thalia's face was still hidden underneath the hood of her parka, but I knew it was her from her voice and her Aegis bracelet. "We've been following that demon's trail for over a week. Is everyone all right? No one got bit?"

"Nah, everyone's bite free," I said, causing Thalia to look up so quickly I thought she'd give herself whiplash.

"Andy?" she asked, confusion flashing in her eyes. "What are you doing here? I thought you were looking for Percy."

"I was, but then-"

"You're her," Piper guessed, stepping forward. "You're Thalia."

Thalia tensed at Piper's guess. But she still stood up straight, reaching up to pull the hood of her parka down, revealing her close cropped hair and silver tiara. Her electric blue eyes glowed from the fire's light.

"Do I know you?" Thalia asked.

Piper drew a shaky breath. "This might be a shock, but-"

"Thalia." Jason stepped forward, his voice trembling. "I'm Jason, your brother."

The daughter of Zeus froze, merely staring at Jason like she was unsure of how to react. She examined him up and down, her gaze catching for a moment on the scar above Jason's lip before she rushed forward, pulling him into a hug that could rival Tyson's.

"My gods! She told me you were dead!" She gripped Jason's face and seemed to be examining everything about it. "Thank Artemis, it _is_ you! That little scar on your lip – you tried to eat a stapler when you were two!"

Leo laughed. "Seriously?"

Hedge nodded like he approved of Jason's taste. "Staplers – excellent source of iron."

"What is it with sons of Zeus and trying to eat dangerous things?" I said, shaking my head. "Perseus tried eating a lionfish, Hercules tried eating a lightning bolt-"

"I thought that was in the Disney movie?" Leo asked.

"Nah, that happened in real life, too. Hercules isn't too proud of that moment. And now Jason's tried to eat a stapler."

"W-wait," Jason stammered. "Who told you I was dead? What happened?"

At the cave entrance, one of the white wolves barked. Thalia looked back at the wolf and nodded, but she kept her hands on Jason's face, like she was afraid he might vanish. "My wolf is telling me I don't have much time, and she's right. But we _have_ to talk. Let's sit."

"Don't worry about the time aspect so much," I said, taking a seat on the rocky ground. I pressed my hands together, a soft golden glow encasing them as I froze time around us. Even the fire had stopped flickering, appearing like a prop more than something that could actually provide heat and light. "There we go. Much better."

But while I'd been freezing time, Piper collapsed, and probably would've cracked her skull if Hedge hadn't caught her. Thalia rushed over. "What's wrong with her? Ah – never mind. I see. Severe hypothermia." She frowned at Coach Hedge. "Don't you know nature healing?"

Hedge scoffed. "Why do you think she looks _this_ good? Can't you smell the Gatorade?"

"I'll take care of it, Thals," I said. "Go on and talk. I'm sure Jason would love to know why you thought he was dead."

Thalia sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Hey, Andy, I know it's a lot to ask of you, seeing that you're already freezing time and helping the girl…but I think this is something I need to _show_ instead of explain."

"Okay, just give me a moment."

"What are you two talking about?" Jason asked, looking completely lost.

Leo, on the other hand gave me this knowing grin. He turned to Jason. "It'll make sense in a bit, bro. I promise."

After giving Piper some hot chocolate, placing hot water bottles over major blood vessels, and giving her the thickest, warmest blankets I could find from my bag, I pulled her closer to the fire, restarting time on the main source of heat in the cave. For good measure, I wrapped my arms around her, knowing that as a goddess who could control fire, I gave off more heat than the average person.

Then, I looked up at Thalia. "Are you sure about this?"

She nodded. "This is the best way."

"Okay, come here." Thalia walked over and plopped herself next to me. I pressed two fingers to her temple. "This isn't going to hurt, but you might feel slightly dizzy afterwards."

"Just do it," she said through gritted teeth.

"As you wish." I turned to the others. "Everyone hold onto each other."

Once everyone was holding hands, I dove into Thalia's mind, depositing us into the last memory she had of Jason – the one where he was left in the middle of the woods, the day Thalia thought that her brother had been murdered.


	60. Chapter 60

"Woah," Piper exhaled as the six of us landed in the middle of the forest, the grass and dry leaves crunching beneath our feet as we got our bearings. "What is this place?"

"Sonoma," Thalia muttered, scowling as she gestured towards the beat up minivan her mother drove stopped in a clearing.

The world around us was hazy, signifying that we were in an older memory, but from all the little details, like the fact that there were four decently sized dents in Beryl Grace's car and that it was extremely overcast and much colder than it should've been this time of year in California, let me know that Thalia hadn't forgotten much about what happened on this day.

I stood next to Thalia and took her hand in my own, giving her it a reassuring squeeze as a show of support. She'd told me about what happened to Jason when I'd gone on a hunting trip with her and the Hunters, when I'd found her holding a small blue baby's shoe clutched to her chest, crying on July 1st, Jason's birthday.

The minivan made a weird groaning noise as it shuddered to a stop, nearly running into a tall redwood. Coach Hedge muttered some unflattering words about Beryl's recklessness but quickly shut up, just as curious as everyone else to watch the scene unfold before them.

Thalia visibly flinched when Beryl got out of her minivan, moving to grab something, or in this case, someone, out of the back seat.

Jason gasped. "Is that…is that our mother?"

Thalia didn't say anything, her eyes screwed shut.

"That _was_ your mother," I corrected gently. "She, uh, she died a few years ago. A DUI. I'm sorry."

Jason merely frowned while Piper grabbed his hand, holding it close to her chest. Leo made a low noise in the back of his throat, almost like a whimper, and I gestured for him to come closer. I then pulled him into a side hug, feeling him release a sad sigh.

"Mom, what are you going to do with Jason?" Thalia had asked her mother, her arms still protectively wrapped around her younger brother's chest. "Why can't I come, too?"

"It'll be okay. She told me it'll be okay," Beryl Grace muttered to herself, violently yanking Jason out of Thalia's grasp, ignoring his cry of protest from the sudden action. Then, not having been fully paying Jason any attention, she bumped his head against the roof of the car, causing him to start crying.

"You hurt him!" Thalia had cried, extremely distraught. "Mom, _please,_ let me come with you!"

"No!" Beryl snapped, setting Jason onto the ground, ignoring his cries as she tightly clutched onto his tiny wrist, which only made him wail even harder. _"You. Stay. Here,"_ she yelled at Thalia, slamming the door shut.

Thalia began pounding at the window, calling out for Jason as Beryl led the both of them deeper into the forest, disappearing out of Thalia's sight. Thalia desperately tried to get out of the car, attempting to unlock the doors, roll down the windows, or even break the windows if it came to that, but the car was so old and beat up that nothing save for the keys themselves controlled anything, and Beryl had taken those with her.

"Jason! JASON!" Thalia had screamed, tears streaming down her face as she continued banging her fists against the window.

After what felt like an interminable amount of time, Beryl Grace stumbled back into the clearing, her clothes all torn up, twigs and leaves sticking out of her once perfect hair. She whooped and wailed something awful, clawing at herself, leaving deep cuts all over her arms and face.

"She took him!" Beryl was crying, falling to her knees, beating her fists against the ground. Her entire body trembled with grief. "She took my son!"

"Mom?" Thalia had asked, the horror evident in her voice despite the fact that she couldn't have been more than ten or eleven in this memory. "Mom, what did you do? Where's Jason?"

"Gone, gone, gone! He's gone!"

"HOW COULD YOU?" Thalia screamed, her face contorted with unimaginable fury and hurt. "YOU'RE THE WORST MOTHER EVER!"

That was enough to break Beryl out of her misery, her sadness quickly transforming into unbridled rage. "Apologize, _now."_

"No."

"Then you asked for this, you ungrateful little-" She then began spewing a list of degrading insults at Thalia until she threw open the door of the minivan, dragged Thalia out of the car, threw her into the middle of the clearing, and started beating her up.

Beryl punched and kicked and pulled Thalia's hair, which had been long enough to reach her waist, yelling the most hurtful slurs that any mother could call at her daughter, only stopping once she hit Thalia so aggressively that she broke Thalia's nose, her blood staining her mother's hand.

"Never talk back to me again, you worthless brat," Beryl sneered, throwing Thalia back into the car and slamming the door once again, ignoring her daughter's cries as she tried to move the bone back into place, cupping her broken nose as blood stained the backseat.

Instead, Beryl took the opportunity to reach into her coat's pocket and pull out a packet of cigarettes, lighting one up and taking a long drag, blowing out a puff of smoke into the chilly air. She then smoked two more, stamping them out on the ground and leaving the cigarette butts there, causing for Coach Hedge to curse her out for hurting nature as well as attacking her own child.

Thalia still glared murderously at her mother, no longer crying, having snapped the bone back into place, ignoring the bruising that started to show around her eyes.

Once Beryl finished her third cigarette, she got back into her car, took a swig out of an open beer can, turned on the minivan, and peeled out of the forest, leaving skid marks behind her until she got back onto the main road.

"When we get home," Beryl said, taking another drink from her beer at a stop light. "Get rid of all of Jason's stuff. He won't be coming back. She made sure of that."

"Yes, mother." Thalia seethed, but I knew that deep down she was grateful that she was in charge of taking care of Jason's stuff. That's how she still had those blue baby shoes of his.

Sensing that we were at the end of the memory, I removed my fingers from Thalia's temple, bringing the six of us back into the real world. Thalia's face was ashen as she stared into the fire, so I gave her a piece of chocolate, telling her that it helped with the dizziness that came with reliving memories like that.

She ate it halfheartedly.

"No wonder Chiron thought you should be dead," Piper said, shaking her head.

"That can't have been easy," Leo said. "But where did your mom take you afterwards? And who took you?"

"Hera," Thalia said, her voice full of annoyance. "I should've known something was up from the moment Mom said that we were going on a family vacation. We never went anywhere. And when we got there, well, you all saw how skittish she was. The next day, I got in a taxi and went back to that park, looking for you. But Mom found out, and she dragged me away kicking and screaming.

"I was in hysterics for the next few days. I don't exactly remember what happened afterwards, but I called the police on her, and they questioned her for a long time. Once the police had left, she beat me again, saying that I betrayed her just like Zeus had done to her twice, and that I should just accept the fact that Hera took you and believe that you were as good as dead. That was the last straw for me. I ran away after that – cut my hair and everything – so no one could find me.

"And after I ran away, I never went back, not even when Mom died a few years ago. I never told anyone about you, Jason, not even my two best friends – Annabeth and Luke. It was just too painful."

"Then how did Andy know?" Jason asked.

"Just because Thalia didn't talk to anyone about it didn't mean she never thought about you," I said. "One day, when I was asked to stay with the Hunters for some time, I found Thalia holding some blue shoes, small enough for a young child. They had lightning bolts on the sides, so I figured they had something to do with Zeus and asked-"

Thalia blushed, cutting me off. "She asked me if I was pregnant, which didn't make any sense. I'm still the lieutenant of Artemis, you know, sworn off the company of men and all that jazz."

I held up my hands in surrender. "You know the story of Callisto as well as I do, so sorry for thinking that the same thing had happened again." I shook my head. "Anyways, that's when Thalia finally told me about you, seven years after we first met."

"But that's not true," Jason insisted. "I swear to the gods, we've met before, Andy, before Hera stole my memories. I've known you for longer than three days."

Thalia frowned. "Is that true, Andy?"

"Maybe I've run into you before, Jason, on missions for the Olympians, but I haven't formally met you until you arrived at Camp Half-Blood," I said, shooting a dangerous look at him. "I would've let you know that Jason was alive if I'd been able to, Thalia, you know I would."

"Alright," she relented, thankfully passing over the loophole that I'd just given myself. "I believe you. So maybe you have met before but didn't realize he was my brother."

"I wouldn't blame her," Leo said, speaking up for the first time in a little while. "I mean, you two don't look anything alike, not to mention that you're smoking hot."

Thalia wasn't amused by the compliment. "Hey, you think we could restart time now? I need to catch up to my Hunters soon."

"What about Aeolus?" Piper asked, nudging Jason lightly in the arm. "We need to see him before we rescue Hera, and we have no idea where he is."

"I'll take you to Aeolus's palace," Thalia agreed, getting to her feet.

I didn't do the same, knowing that the second I released time, I'd fall over. I set out a square of ambrosia onto the ground beside me just in case.

"We can't leave Andy here by herself," Leo argued, noticing what I was doing.

"Yes, you can, and you will," I said sternly. "You have a quest to complete, one that doesn't require me at the moment. If something changes and you need my help again, I will come in a heartbeat, but let's just say that if I come to Aeolus's palace with you, I'll just slow you down. Leave me here. I'll be fine on my own."

Thalia nodded in agreement. "Andy's one of the strongest people I know. Such a shame that she's dating Luke, or else she would've been an excellent Huntress." I blushed. "I'm just teasing, you know. But we really should get going."

"If you can't take us, it's okay," Jason said, though he sounded kind of distressed.

"Oh, please." Thalia smiled and helped him up. "I haven't had a brother in years. I think I can stand a few minutes with you before you get annoying. Now, let's go!"

"Good luck!" I said before releasing my spell and slumping over, my body heavy with exhaustion as my fingers closed around the little square of ambrosia, bringing it up to my mouth.

It took a few more minutes of just laying motionless in the cave, next to the dying fire before I was strong enough to get back to my feet. Now, I know what you must be thinking: _You're a goddess? Why do your powers still exhaust you so much?_

To be completely honest, I really had no idea. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that I was still learning to control time as well as my father could or that my strength was connected to sacrifices, like we did to the rest of the Olympians at the dining pavilion. But until I found out, I guess I'd just have to deal with the side effects of my powers like I've done before.

Eventually, I no longer felt like molten lead had replaced my bones and got up and stretched, wincing at the sound of my joints popping. Afterwards, I put out the fire, making sure that all the embers were extinguished before walking out into the forest, the cold air a slap in the face.

I shivered, more out of reflex than because I was actually cold, pulling my jacket tighter around myself. I glanced once more behind me, checking that the cave looked as deserted as it had been before Piper, Leo, Jason, and Coach Hedge arrived. The cave passed my exam, and seeing that I had no purpose milling in the middle of a freezing forest any longer than necessary, I shadow-traveled away with a new destination in mind.

I was going to visit Camp Jupiter first.

* * *

You know, for the amount of times that I've visited Camp Jupiter over the past few years, you'd think that the legionnaires would stop flinching whenever I walked past them. I guess my stern expression was enough to put them off, or maybe it was the omega above the six lines branded into my left forearm, but honestly, I know Reyna and Jason had given the camp enough speeches about treating me like any other Senator for them to keep acting like this.

Still, I made my way through the camp without too much of a headache, purposely ignoring the way that some of the Lares would hiss and murmur _Graecus_ whenever I got too close, most likely sensing the Curse of Achilles, which I had no idea if it was still intact or not. But judging from the glares and sideways glances of the Lares, I'm going to guess that, yes, I still bore remnants of the curse.

I found myself heading for the Garden of Bacchus, where Reyna tended to spend most of her time this time of year, only to be cut off by the most annoying scrawny blond boy that has walked the face of this Earth: Octavian Bentley.

"Hello, Andromeda," he said cordially, his crazed blue eyes glinting dangerously as he glanced at my covered forearm, hungrily licking his lips, as if waiting for a fight. He held a mutilated stuffed lion in one hand and his ceremonial knife in the other, bits of fluff still clinging to the blade. "What brings you here at a time like this?"

I bit back the sneer I wanted to give him, forcing myself to keep a neutral expression. "Do you think that the gods are ignorant of what has transpired here, Octavian? Lord Jupiter is most upset by the disappearance of his son – one of the two praetors, as you know – and has sent me to investigate."

"Has he, now? Then why did you arrive today instead of two days ago, when Jason first disappeared?"

"I was sent to scour the rest of California first. Lord Jupiter assumed that the Twelfth Legion could manage to search Camp Jupiter and the surrounding area without his interference. Am I mistaken in this regard?"

Octavian looked taken aback. "N-no, of course not," he stammered out. "The legion has been endlessly searching for our missing praetor ever since his disappearance."

"Good. Now, I'm looking for Reyna. Do you know where she might be?"

"Last I heard, she was in the Senate House. Poor girl, she's losing her mind with stress." Octavian spoke with so much fake sympathy that I was debating throwing him into an acting class so that he could at least do it properly.

"You don't think Reyna is capable of running Camp Jupiter without Jason?" I asked, raising my eyebrows at his response.

"No, I do not," Octavian replied, not sounding at all indecisive about this belief. "She is a woman, far too sensible to be making decisions that should be left up to men."

"I see." I found myself glaring at the legacy of Apollo so fiercely that he flinched and took a step back. "Well, I'd be careful about how you speak of women in authority, especially when there are many who would be willing to knock you down a peg for your sexist views, Octavian, myself included. It is only because I have more important things to do than duel with a seventeen-year-old augur that I will be off to find Reyna. Goodbye, Octavian, and you better hope I never hear you say such things again."

I was only a few feet away when I heard him shout, "Or else what?"

I immediately spun around and held eye contact with him, reaching deep into his mind and bringing his fears to life. He feared failure and being forgotten, so instead of being kind and helpful and leaving a positive mark on the world, he'd rather act through terror and blackmail and general nastiness.

But seeing that I hate being cruel longer than absolutely necessary, I released Octavian almost as soon as I'd started, letting him fall to his knees as his breathing turned heavy, something short of sheer panic etched across his face.

"Be careful of who you antagonize," I warned before turning on my heel a final time, heading for the Senate House to talk with Reyna.

On my way there, I came across Hazel, who was walking next to a horror stricken Frank. Her gold eyes lit up when she saw me, grabbing Frank's hand as she pulled him towards me.

Although there was a similar type of weather barrier around Camp Jupiter like at Camp Half-Blood, the air still stung from how cold it was. And it was visible in their cheeks that they were cold, a light pink dusted on their faces, even on Hazel's despite her darker skin.

Hazel seemed perfectly content in the cold weather, wearing a navy beanie pulled over her thick curls and a matching winter coat, her hands covered in black gloves. Frank, on the other hand, only wore a red sweater and jeans, and there was a black and blue scarf hastily tied around his neck, which I had a sneaking suspicion that it had been at Hazel's insistence that he now wore the scarf.

"Hey, Andy!" Hazel greeted, releasing Frank's wrist and launching herself at me. I hugged her back just as tightly, overjoyed that I could finally hug Hazel instead of holding my arms up like a ballerina while her soul just kinda stood there, not wanting to dissipate because of the proximity to living flesh. "I've missed you."

"I've missed you too, kiddo," I said with a smile, releasing Hazel from the hug to look at Frank. "Hi, Frank. How have you been?"

"You know Frank?" Hazel asked, her gaze flickering between the both of us.

"Y-yeah," Frank stammered out. "She was the one that brought me to the Wolf House. We're friends, I think."

"If you want to be," I said, smiling at the unclaimed son of Mars. "Listen, I'd love to do nothing more than catch up with the both of you, but I need to talk with Reyna. It's urgent."

Hazel nodded her head in understanding. "You're here because of Jason, aren't you?"

"I am."

She sighed in resignation. "It's so weird, all of it. He was here one day, then _poof!_ He was gone."

"Uh, bad timing I know, but who's Jason?" Frank said, his face turning redder than a ripe tomato, and it wasn't because of the cold.

"You've met Reyna, right?" I asked; he nodded. "Well, she's a praetor, one of the two leaders of the whole legion. Her partner, the second praetor, was Jason Grace, son of Jupiter, but he's gone missing. Lord Jupiter isn't too happy about his son's disappearance, so I was sent to investigate after I was unable to find him anywhere else in the state of California."

"Why didn't you check the rest of the United States? Isn't it possible that he's outside of California?"

"Yes, and that's my next mission. But first I have to check that things will be in order here first. Personally, I have nothing but the utmost confidence that Reyna will be able to hold down the fort until Jason is found or a new praetor is voted in, but I was sent to minimize coups and potential conflicts."

"You mean you're Octavian damage control," Hazel said, the contempt palpable in her voice as she thought about the scrawny legacy of Apollo.

I chuckled. "Basically. So I'm just gonna make sure that Reyna knows the best ways to handle Octavian's little manipulative plans and how to contact me if something goes horribly wrong before I return on my search for Jason Grace."

"Well, I guess we should leave you to your plans, then," Hazel said, a sad smile on her face. "Next time you come, we'll properly catch up."

"I'd like that very much. Welcome, both of you, to the Twelfth Legion. I sincerely hope that you're happy here."

As I began to leave, Frank said, "Reyna's in her villa, by the way. I didn't know if you knew that."

I stopped dead in my tracks, my hands clenched into fists at my side as I fought the urge to find Octavian and suffocate him in the stuffing of his mutilated stuffed animals in the name of "offerings to the gods."

"Thank you!" I said with as much joy as I could muster before running towards the praetorian villas, muttering a stream of swear words about Octavian in a mixture of English and Latin as I went to find Reyna.

Don't get me wrong, when I first met Octavian when he was eleven, I tried so hard to be kind and patient with him, knowing that I couldn't hate his younger self for actions that he had yet to commit. But time and time again, he proved himself incorrigible and spiteful, finding joy in others' misery and always being a conniving little leech, using the absolute worst forms of blackmail to pressure people into giving him what he wanted.

I tried being his friend, tried to be a good influence on him, but after he almost caused a third kid in the legion to attempt suicide from how badly he'd bullied them, I didn't know what else to do with him. I even offered going to counseling with Octavian, to talk to someone who would only want the best for him, but he constantly denied this option, calling me all kinds of terrible names as he claimed that he wasn't crazy.

And as much as I wanted to help as many people as I could, and that included characters whose guts I absolutely hated, I eventually gave up on Octavian, our relationship as icy as ever. Honestly, he probably wished for my death at some point, but I don't care. I know Salina would never grant _that_ wish, or _any_ wish asking for someone's death for that matter.

I was broken out of my reverie when my feet collided with the stairs that led to the porch outside of Reyna's villa, causing me to fall on the stairs, cringing as I pushed myself upright. Yeah, those would probably bruise, but I really didn't care.

"Who's there?" Reyna demanded, her eyes scanning her surroundings before landing on me, her gaze softening. "Thank the gods you're here. We have much to discuss."

* * *

 **Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and Happy Kwanza to all who celebrate! To those who don't, have a happy holiday season, and enjoy your time off from school!**


	61. Chapter 61

Reyna was quick in forcing me into a seat, setting a mug of hot chocolate in front of me as she took a sip out of her mug, leaving behind a thin line of whipped cream over her upper lip, which she promptly wiped away with the back of her hand.

Not wanting to agitate Reyna even more, I carefully took a few sips of the hot chocolate, hiding the fact that it tasted like cardboard. I set my mug back down on the coffee table, watching as Reyna downed the rest of her mug, setting the mug down so harshly that it was a miracle it didn't break.

I took that moment to take a good look at Reyna. Her appearance was as flawless as ever, what with her long hair pulled back into a perfect braid, her armor gleaming as it had never seen battle, and her purple praetor cape in pristine condition, not a tear or smudge anywhere to be found.

But if one were to look past her impeccable clothing, you'd notice the dark half-circles under Reyna's eyes and the way she slumped in her chair, like the weight of the world was on her shoulders. And, speaking from experience, she looked worse for wear.

"Five days, eighteen hours, and eleven minutes," Reyna mumbled, rubbing her eyes. "That's how long I've had the others searching for Jason."

"I'm going to take a guess here and say that you haven't slept in five days, eighteen hours, and twelve minutes then?" I asked, aware of the minute hand reaching the twelve on her clock.

"Exactly."

"Well, that can't be doing anyone any good," I said, chewing on my bottom lip. But before Reyna could start protesting, I said, "Don't try to argue with me, Reyna, you're practically dead on your feet. Go get some sleep. I can keep order for as long as you need."

"You mean keep Octavian quiet," Reyna said, slowly getting to her feet. She swayed slightly, gripping tightly onto the back of her chair to keep her upright. "But I think you're right, Andy. I've driven myself sick with worry over something I have no control in."

"I assure you that Jason is safe, wherever he may be."

"You know where he is?"

"Gods of Olympus, no," I lied, shaking my head, glad that neither Aurum nor Argentum were there at the moment. "However, Juno's been missing for as long as Jason's been gone, and a coincidence like that is next to impossible. She has something to do with his disappearance – I'm sure of it. And seeing that Juno favors Jason, I have every reason to believe that he is out of harm's way as long as she is with him."

This seemed to placate Reyna slightly, though I could still make out the unease in her dark brown eyes. She stared at me a moment longer before retreating to her room, the door slamming shut behind her, the subtle sound of a lock turning filling the otherwise silent house.

Eying the two dirty mugs in the living room, I grabbed both of them and headed for the kitchen, figuring that I might as well try to be helpful in any way I could be for the time being.

Before I left, I paused for a moment outside of Reyna's door, laughing softly to myself as I heard her snoring, turning out the rest of the lights in the house as I let myself out. The sun was still setting, the sky alight with hues of pink and orange and violet. And while most people would be enjoying this moment in some way shape or form, the legion was not.

Even from the porch of Reyna's villa, I saw the legionnaires whipped up into a frenzy, many of them still completely decked out in full battle armor as they walked in perfect lines towards one of the many armories around Camp Jupiter.

"It's like he's a ghost," I heard one of the legionnaires say, their knuckles white around their spear. "Here one minute, gone the next."

"Of course he's not a ghost," another one exclaimed in annoyance. "He's a demigod, same as you and me."

"A missing demigod," a third one added. "Poor Reyna. We all know she fancies Jason."

"Reyna and Jason?" the second one asked. "Are you crazy? They'd rip each other's head off first chance they got."

The conversation quickly died as they moved on, leaving me in complete silence once again.

It was December 20th, the night before the winter solstice deadline of Jason's quest. By the end of tomorrow, he would know the truth, and I didn't know how to feel about that. Thalia would most certainly want my head on a spike for knowing that her brother was alive for the past thirteen years without ever telling her, and Jason would probably lose all his faith in me. Not to mention that both camps would probably see me as a traitor for knowing about the other and keeping silent.

But what was I supposed to do? I don't think even Chiron's aware of the fact that I knew about the Romans, even though the Olympians had revealed that to me within the first two months of my training with them. I mean, I already knew about the Romans long before I stepped foot on this planet, but you all know what I mean.

I left Reyna's villa, not sure of where I was heading when someone slammed into me. I attempted to apologize, only to be cut off by a strong, "Watch where you're going," as the perpetrator stalked off.

Unfortunately for him, I knew his voice – very well, I may add.

"Nico di Angelo, what are you doing here?" I asked, placing my hands on my hips as I watched him freeze, slowly turning around like a child caught taking the last cookie from the cookie jar.

Even in the growing darkness, I could see Nico pretty well. He was wearing his beat-up aviator's jacket again, the buttons all closed except for the upmost one, allowing for his black shirt to peek through. But from the way it bulged around his chest, I could tell he still had his bandages on.

"I should ask you the same thing," Nico said, his voice holding a considerable amount of sass to it. "I thought you were searching the entire planet for a certain Perseus Jackson."

"And who's to say that I haven't found him?"

"Then where is he, and why haven't you told Annabeth?"

"That's not important," I bristled, my heart sinking slightly as I watched some of the hope that had been in Nico's eyes extinguish. "You haven't answered my question, Nico. Why are you here when you should be in the infirmary, resting?"

He shrugged. "I got bored. And Bob was starting to stare at me all the time, which is fine until you wake up and his face is like three centimeters away from your own."

"Okay, fair enough. But why didn't you IM me as I asked? I left the drachma and everything."

Nico suddenly found his scuffed up shoes a lot more interesting than me. He shoved his hands into the pockets of his jacket, jerking his head in the direction of the shrines further up the path.

I didn't press on, merely trailing Nico until he sat at the foot of Pluto's shrine, burying his face in his hands.

"Is everything okay, Nico?"

He gave a mirthless laugh. "You mean other than the fact that I almost killed myself because of my recklessness?"

My heart hammered to the point that I thought it was going to burst out of my chest. "Wait, so getting hit by that car…Nico, was that _intentional?"_

Nico shrugged.

I wasted no time in instantly pulling Nico into a hug, and he didn't argue, knowing that once you were in my embrace, you weren't going to be let go of anytime soon. Neither of us said anything for a long time.

"I know what you're going to say," Nico said eventually, his voice soft and quiet, barely louder than a whisper. "I don't want to hear it."

"Then what was I going to say?" I asked gently, genuinely curious.

"That I'm stupid for having a lapse in judgment so close to the mortal world. That I'm always reckless and need to do a better job at keeping myself safe. That I keep trying to do better to get into Dad's good graces but all I've done is cause pain and misery everywhere I go."

"Just wanted you to know," I said, "that's not what I was going to say at all."

"Then what were you going to tell me?"

"That I deeply care about you, Nico, and that I'm always here if you need me. Speaking of which…" I trailed off as I rummaged through my bag until I found some spare charms. I grabbed a spare piece of black string, the kind used for friendship bracelets, and threaded the charms onto it before tying it around Nico's wrist. "There you go. I've been meaning to give you those a while ago but never found the time."

"Charms?" Nico asked, prodding at the star with his little finger. "Aren't these a bit girlish?"

"Maybe, I don't know," I replied with a shrug. "I mean, Percy and Leo haven't given me any grief about them being too girly. You're only the third person that I've ever handed these out to."

"Thanks, I guess." Nico continued fiddling with the charms. "What do they do?"

"The star charm helps mask your demigod scent; the cloud lets you talk to me in my mind. So if you're ever in any danger, all you have to do is touch the cloud and start talking, and I'll be able to hear you from anywhere in the world."

He raised an eyebrow at me. "Even if I make an accidental trip to China?"

"Even then."

"That's pretty amazing, I'm not gonna lie."

I gave Nico a small smile, allowing for him to settle back into my embrace, his head resting comfortably on my shoulder. "I've only ever wanted for you to be happy, Nico. Please, how can I help?"

He released a long sigh. "I don't know, Andy. I really don't know."

"Well, you know what, I'll be here until you know. I'll be here with you whenever you need me. I promise."

"Speaking of 'being here', why _are_ you here?" Nico asked. "How did you find out about this place?"

"The gods told me years ago," I explained. "I've known Reyna ever since she stepped foot onto Camp Jupiter. Same goes with Jason, Hazel, and Frank."

Nico launched himself upright, his eyes wild with fear. "You know about Hazel? About who she is, how she got here?"

"Of course. I'm aware of almost everything that goes on in the Underworld. For example, I know a certain death god is missing, and Hades has been very hush-hush about the whole thing, using you to close up some of the patches in the meantime. Plus, I've known about Hazel since before I got you out of the Lotus Hotel. I just never let anyone else know until now."

Nico looked like he wasn't sure about whether he wanted to throw up or pretend like I'd never said anything. He quickly chose the latter, shaking his head in disbelief as he stood up, pushing some of his shaggy hair out of his eyes.

"You're dangerous, you know," Nico said, chuckling lowly as he offered me a hand up. "I'd be afraid of you if you weren't so nice to me."

"I get that a lot. Now, come help me placate a bunch of screaming Romans, will you? I'm sure Octavian will get a kick from seeing both of us show up on the same day."

"I'd love to help," Nico said, a diabolical grin on his face at the aspect of watching Octavian have a near aneurysm at the sight of us together. "Come on, I don't want to keep our _friend_ waiting any longer."

* * *

I spent the rest of that night at Camp Jupiter, ensuring that no more campers left to search for Jason. The following morning, Reyna and the rest of the Senators had decided that it was becoming increasingly dangerous to continue sending out legion members in search of their missing praetor when it had been a goddess who'd snatched him away.

"He will not be found until Juno wishes for him to be found," Reyna had told the camp, ignoring the cries of outrage and disbelief. "As this is the case, if Jason has not returned by the Feast of Fortuna, we will hold an election for a new praetor then."

Of course, the entire Fifth Cohort was the most mutinous, calling Reyna so many swear words that it was a wonder that Ceres herself didn't come down from Olympus to wash all their mouths out with olive oil.

"QUIET!" I'd shouted, jumping down from my seat in the third row, landing in the middle of the Senate House, drawing all the attention onto myself. "I know that you're all upset about Jason's disappearance, but you WILL NOT take out your anger on Reyna! She has consulted with me, and we both agree that this is the best course of action to ensure your safety. I will continue the search for Jason, but until then, you may consult the augur for his whereabouts.

"Furthermore, I better not hear anyone utter a single word against Reyna for this decision. _I_ am the one pushing for this – Reyna and the Senators just so happen to agree. Conduct yourselves as proper members of the Twelfth Legion by listening to Reyna, or I will not hesitate to return and punish the perpetrators. If you have any issues, deal with them _civilly,_ not by screaming like petulant children so that only the loudest voices are heard. Do I make myself clear?"

There were mutters of assent.

"Lovely," I continued. I turned to Reyna and gave her a brief hug. "I wish you the best of luck in the upcoming months."

Then I gave Nico, Hazel, and Frank a slight wave goodbye as I faded into the shadows, traveling to the Wolf House.

* * *

"Well, you sure took your sweet time, Andromeda," a fading Hera said, her normally radiant glow dimmed to that of a dying lightbulb. Her pitch-black hair was covered in a shawl, the kind that Hestia typically wore. Her usually elegant dress was now a widow's dress, her face weathered and wrinkled, her brown eyes dark and downright scary.

"I had to keep my cover up, didn't I?" I asked, swallowing a lump in my throat as I noticed the pitch-black spires, the one above Hera significantly smaller compared to the one on the other side of the U that divided the Wolf House. "I still think we should've gone with my plan, though."

"And merely introduce the two camps?" Hera shook her head like she knew something that I didn't. "You may have been taught by the goddess of wisdom, but you clearly have much to learn about politics."

"This isn't politics – it's life and death. I'm trusted and respected at both camps. Surely that could've been enough rather than stealing their friends and memories."

"It isn't that simple."

"Of course it is!" I shouted, throwing my hands up in exasperation. "You've turned me into a liar, Hera, and have probably cost me some of my closest friends. Do you know what it's like to stare at one of your best friends in the face and _lie_ to them about where their brother has been for the past fifteen years?"

"I have never been in such a situation, but-"

"That's not the point! You haven't had to lie to a girl you practically raised about where her boyfriend is being kept! You haven't had to lie to a girl who just wanted a home and now has to run an entire camp by herself, because her fellow praetor is missing! You haven't had to lie to two – not one, but _two –_ entire camps about where their leaders are, all because _you_ were too prideful to listen to me!"

"You're a mortal!" Hera seethed. "Am I supposed to trust a mortal girl in such painstaking plans when the fate of the entire world is at stake?"

"Unbelievable," I muttered, glaring up at the ceiling. "Here's the thing that annoys me the most about this entire plan – not that you turned me into a liar, not that I've had to deal with the aftermath of your so-called brilliant plan.

"The thing that annoys me the most is that you know that I came from the future, yet you try to stop me from doing my job. I'm trying to minimize the damage of grandmother's dearest temper tantrum, but by going along with this exchange, a certain sequence of actions has been cemented into the timeline now."

"If you're so upset by this, why did you help me hide young Perseus?"

I stopped my pacing and glared at Hera, my hands clutched tightly around the dark tendrils of her prison.

"Because after you kidnapped Jason, the Fates informed me that there was no other way. So despite my guilt and any other qualms I might have had, I did what was asked of me," I explained through gritted teeth. "There was another way, you know, one where this war could've been dealt with much faster and easier than what is coming before us."

"And what might that be?"

"I can't tell you that." I pressed my forehead against the cage, relishing in the coolness against my slightly feverish skin. "Honestly, no one was supposed to know the truth about me for another couple of years. I only revealed myself on the Fates' orders."

"For such a powerful person, I find it rather odd that you'd subject yourself to the Fates' mercy. No one likes those old hags, not even Hestia."

"I allow it because it is my mother's wish."

"Your mother…?" Hera said, tapping a crooked finger against her chin as she thought. "No, I do not remember her. Have we met before?"

"No, probably not." I sighed, remembering the defiant gleam in her eyes as she staved off that horrible intergalactic beast, giving the others time to get to safety, wherever that may be. "But my mother's identity isn't important on the moment, not when you're literally being used as fodder for a giant's rebirth."

"Don't remind me," Hera said, a shudder wracking her body as the faint glow around her died even more.

The spire that held the giant Porphyrion grew bigger. The entire house shuddered from the sudden growth, causing dirt and dust to fall from the roof, dusting the floor.

"He grows stronger," she commented, seemingly at peace for the time being. "Just as it happened last time. I warned Zeus that this would happen again."

"No offense, Hera, but you kinda married the biggest dunderhead in existence."

Hera's cracked lips twitched, clearly suppressing the urge to smile. "At last, something we both agree on."

My anger at Hera quickly faded and turned into pity. I was watching a woman – no, goddess – who had helped train me for five years, who had taught me in the ways of memory manipulation, be used as a source of energy for something far more sinister than any Titan. That was a fate that wasn't befitting for anyone, least of all the Queen of Olympus.

"They'll be here soon," I assured Hera, glancing outside through one of the overhead windows, the sun's rays still shining brilliantly overhead.

Seeing that it was around noon, I imagined that the quest was currently at Mount Diablo, facing off with the giant Enceladus, trying to save Tristan McLean from becoming Earthborn chow. I knew that the Hunters would arrive first, but I didn't know when. And Jason, Leo, and Piper wouldn't arrive until near sunset.

"You know," Hera mused, deciding to keep up a conversation while we waited for the next five hours to tick on, "for a demigod turned goddess, you aren't as strong as you should be."

I frowned. "What do you mean by that?"

"Your powers," she continued, "they still exhaust you. Not to mention the fact that I can sense that you still rely on shadow-traveling rather than light-traveling like the rest of us."

"What's the difference? Plus, shadows are everywhere…light, not so much."

Hera scoffed and actually gave me a pitiful smile. "What's the difference? Other than not being constantly drained and passing out, light-traveling is much faster and more efficient than shadow-traveling. But I think that your weakness comes from something outside of your person, something that you cannot change about yourself."

"Then what am I supposed to do?"

"You, my dear, need sacrifices, same as we do."

My stomach turned violently. I'd been dreading that answer, even though I'd made that conclusion a while ago. It didn't make me any happier, though, or any more inclined to act on it.

"Sounds a little pretentious, don't you think?" I asked, chuckling a bit at the end. "I can't ask my friends to do that for me."

"And why ever not? Andromeda, you've sacrificed much for your friends in the almost ten years that I've known you. For a friend, you would rip out your own heart and give it to them if it meant they survived instead of you. I sincerely doubt they'll think differently of you for asking them to think of you when they give their offerings."

"We'll see how that goes after this quest," I muttered, running an exasperated hand through my hair. "Assuming I still have any friends after this."

"For what it's worth, I'm sorry for not listening to you," Hera apologized. "You're right; I've forgotten that you came from the future. But from here on out, I'll do my best to aid this quest."

I cracked a small smile. "Apology accepted. And I…someone's coming."

Hera fell silent as I summoned Epithymia and a silver dagger, shoving the dagger into the sheath at my thigh as I glanced at the figures approaching the entrance of the Wolf House. Clearly, the people approaching thought that I was a threat as well if their arrows pointed at me were anything to go by.

Wait, arrows?

"Thalia?" I asked tentatively, loosening up my grip on Epithymia just a bit. "Are you here with your Hunters?"

To my surprise, the girl leading the Hunters this time was not the daughter of Zeus, but the daughter of Hades.

"Bianca?!"

"Stand down, girls," Bianca ordered, and the other girls lowered their bows, returning their arrows to their quivers. She then crossed the little space between us and gave me a quick hug before backing up. "Hi, Andy, long time, no see."

I blinked twice, making sure that this was real and that I wasn't hallucinating at the moment. "Uh, yeah. I haven't seen you in-"

"Two years, I know." Bianca wore a sheepish expression on her face, rubbing the back of her neck in embarrassment. "I've been doing stuff for Artemis, recruitment and such, and I haven't been around as much, I know. So, uh, how's Nico been doing these past few years?"

"Ladies, ladies," Thalia said, walking into the Wolf House, brushing some of the excess snow off of her parka and bow. "I'm sure the three of us have a lot of catching up to do, but this isn't the time or place for that. We've got to secure this place before Lycaon and the rest of his feral mutts show up."

I cast one final glance at the growing spire, painfully aware of the fact that Hera no longer had any glow around her, making her appear as ordinary as any other mortal woman. "Jason better hurry up," I said, zipping up my jacket before I stepped outside, helping the Hunters prepare for the upcoming fight.

* * *

 **Hi, guys!**

 **Long time no see, I know.**

 **If you want to read my explanation, go ahead, but if you want to skip on to the next chapter, I won't mind (not like I'll know if you read this part or not lol). I'm a senior in high school, so the past few months have been kicking my butt like you wouldn't believe. There were some moments where I was lucky that I found time to breathe. And now with this whole coronavirus mess, I've switched to schooling online, which has been a blessing and a curse. The good thing is that I should have a little more free time, and this week I'm on spring break, so I'm hoping to update at least once more before the week's out - no promises though.**

 **Stay safe in this chaotic time, and once again, thank you to everyone reading this! I love all of you!**


	62. Chapter 62

**Updating two days in a row? Who's she?**

 **None of you will forgive me after this chapter, though MWHAHAHAHAHA :D (it's only going to get worse from here, whoops)**

 **Love y'all, and enjoy!**

* * *

We were all antsy as the sun moved across the sky, the wind growing increasingly colder as night approached. Even the Hunters' wolves, which were typically fearless, seemed on edge, skittering away from the forest whenever they were too far away from their Hunter.

 _He's coming,_ they warned each other. _And he is angry._

Great, I thought to myself, fiddling with my silver dagger's hilt whenever I got bored. As a safety precaution, I handed Thalia and Bianca little packets of silver powder, something I'd kept with me ever since I first ran into werewolves when I was sixteen.

Not all werewolves were dangerous, but the ones that ran with Lycaon were the worst of the worst, the kind that found a sick sort of pleasure in turning young children and needlessly killing anyone that happened to come across the pack, especially on the nights of the full moon.

Luckily for us, the next full moon wouldn't be until next month, not to mention that this fight would be over around sundown.

Once Thalia was absolutely certain that the Hunters couldn't do anything else to secure the Wolf House, she finally sat down on the stone steps, a blank look on her face. Bianca and I both joined her, knowing that we weren't needed elsewhere at the moment.

"This is the place Mom left Jason," Thalia said softly. She pointed to a little clearing just a little ways away from where we were sitting. "That's where she parked the car. If only I'd known…"

She shook her head, laughing sadly. "You know, after that day, I cut my hair like this, so that Mom could never use it against me again. It was so hard to keep my hair short when on the run, but somehow, I managed."

"I'm sorry," Bianca said, giving Thalia's hand a gentle squeeze before returning to fiddle with the skull ring that rested on her finger, a gift from Nico. "But you have found Jason again. Don't let Hera keep you two apart again."

"Oh, I won't. If she touches a hair on his head again, I will storm right up to Olympus myself and punch her in the face."

"She can hear you, you know!" Hera shrieked from inside the Wolf House; Thalia replied by giving the goddess the middle finger, ignoring the string of Ancient Greek curses that came afterward.

The three of us laughed, an action that seemed so out of place amongst the solemnity of the situation we found ourselves in. The temperature noticeably dropped to the point where most of the Hunters shivered despite their warm clothing.

I set up a fire in the middle of the field, warming up the nearby Hunters. For the others, I tried to create that weather dome that Artemis was so skilled at, but all I managed to do was block the stronger winds. Chilly breezes still wormed through my makeshift barrier.

"It'll do," Thalia assured me, clapping me on the shoulder as she passed by. "Believe me, the wind is worse than the snow."

"Agreed," one of the Hunters said, rubbing her hands together as she brought them up to her mouth, hoping her breath would be enough to warm them.

As the sun neared the horizon, the temperature dropped another five degrees, the wind blowing so violently around us that the smaller plants threatened to snap in half. I watched as some of the Hunters near the end of the border had their hair whipping in their faces, causing them to scowl as they hurriedly pulled it back either in a ponytail or a braid.

To make matters worse, it was starting to snow. But not snow in the sense that you look forward to on Christmas day – no, it was as if a blizzard had just descended over the Wolf House, reducing visibility to almost nothing.

Then a piercing howl broke through the otherwise quiet forest, and I knew that the fight had begun.

"Hunters, take your aim!" Thalia commanded, an arrow already notched onto her bow, her fingers curled around the string. There was one more second of stillness before the first wolf broke through the tree line, only to be shot down by Thalia, who yelled, "Fire!" the moment she released her arrow.

The clearing outside of the Wolf House became utterly chaotic as werewolves launched themselves from every which way. I did my best as the goddess of wolves to tell them off, but werewolves weren't proper wolves, and now that they had their minds so focused on tearing our throats out, it was damn near impossible to order them around like I did to that beta yesterday.

I cut down any werewolf that got too close with my dagger, aiming for the back of the neck or the throat, some of its most vulnerable areas. The problem was getting to the vulnerable areas, and if the scratches I had sporting across my collarbone were anything to go by, these werewolves knew how to fight.

But just as the werewolves started dying off, the winds whipped up again with so much fury that there was no point in keeping up the protective barrier anymore. "Stupid storm spirits," I muttered, ripping my dagger out of a werewolf's side and kicking it to the ground, its body fading into the snow.

Even worse, in especially muddy areas, these huge Earthborn started to form, ugly, wet, lumpy, misshapen clay that had been stepped in. However, seeing as each one was easily seven feet tall and sporting six hands, I eyed them with concern.

"They're not dying!" a Hunter cried out, shooting her final arrow at an Earthborn, nailing him right in between his beady eyes, making him look like the world's ugliest unicorn. He quickly melted into a pile of clay. She scowled as she reached for her hunting knives, clearly preferring her bow as her choice of weapon.

"Macy's right!" yelled another Hunter, cutting an Earthborn clean in half at his waist, watching him crumble into dust before her very eyes. But just as quickly as he'd died, the dust swirled in the hectic winds, solidifying into an earthen mess once again.

"Disperse the dust!" I told the others.

At that very moment, a storm spirit hit me square in the chest, sending me flying backwards into one of the marble columns at the entrance of the Wolf House. Despite my aching head, I scooped up my dagger, filled it with electricity, and flung it at the faintly glowing _venti_ (in this case, Latin is so much easier than the Greek), watching it explode in a cloud of blue sparks.

This continued for what felt like an eternity – minus the getting thrown into columns – until nearly all the Hunters were forced to use their hunting knives or their swords, having run out of arrows.

Thankfully, they'd heard my message about dispersing the dust. And while this didn't prevent the Earthborn from reforming entirely, it took them significantly longer, giving the Hunters a very much needed reprieve, even if it was only a few more seconds.

"Jason!" I heard Thalia call out, her form quickly vanishing amongst all the snow and fog.

I followed after her voice, stabbing an Earthborn through the chest before it could bring one of its six clubs down on one of the younger Hunters, the girl sprawled on the floor from tripping over a hidden tree root. I helped her up before returning to chase after Thalia.

"That was my last one," Thalia was muttering, kicking a pile of clay. "Stupid ogre."

"Nice shot, though," Leo said.

Thalia ignored him as usual. She hugged Jason and nodded to Piper. "Just in time. My Hunters are holding the perimeter around the mansion, but we'll be overrun any minute."

"By Earthborn?" Jason asked.

" _And_ wolves – Lycaon's minions," I added. "Also storm spirits-"

"But we gave them to Aeolus!" Piper protested.

"Who tried to kill us," Leo reminded her. "Maybe he's helping G-"

" _Don't say her name!"_

Leo flinched at my outburst. "Sorry, mother earth again."

"I don't know," Thalia said. "But the monsters keep reforming almost as fast as we can kill them. Andy took out the guards by the time we got here, so we were able to secure the mansion. But then this freak snowstorm blew in. Wave after wave of monsters started attacking. Now we're surrounded. I don't know who or what is leading the assault, but I think they planned this. It was a trap to kill anyone who tried to rescue Hera."

"Where is she?" Jason asked.

"Inside," Thalia said. "We tried to free her, but we can't figure out how to break the cage. It's only a few minutes until the sun goes down. Hera thinks that's the moment that Po…that the Anti-Zeus will be reborn. Plus, most monsters are stronger at night. If we don't free Hera soon…"

"I'll give you as much time as I can spare," I said, "but we need to get moving. I'll know when I need to step in. Follow us."

Leo, Jason, and Piper followed both of us into the ruined mansion.

* * *

The second Jason stepped over the threshold, he immediately collapsed.

"Hey!" Leo caught him. "None of that, man. What's wrong?"

"This place…" Jason shook his head. "Sorry…It came rushing back to me."

"So you _have_ been here," Piper said.

"We both have, remember?" Thalia said. Her expression was grim, like she was reliving someone's death. "This is where my mom took us when Jason was a child. She left him here, told me he was dead. He just disappeared."

"She gave me to the wolves," Jason murmured. "At Hera's insistence. She gave me to Lupa."

"That part I didn't know." Thalia frowned. "Who is Lupa?"

An explosion shook the building. Just outside, a blue mushroom cloud billowed up, raining snowflakes and ice like a nuclear blast made of cold instead of heat.

"Maybe this isn't the time for questions," Leo suggested. "Show us the goddess."

"I got it from here, Thals," I said, grabbing ahold of her wrist, preventing her from going any further into the Wolf House. "The Hunters need you. Oh, here, you might need this."

I tugged on one of my charms, my bow and quiver appearing over my shoulder. I took off my quiver and thrusted it into Thalia's hands, wishing her luck before I beckoned the trio to follow me further into the ruined mansion, not waiting for Thalia's reply.

"Down here," I said, pointing at the decrepit stairs that led down into the pool, where Hera was being held. "Watch your step."

Leo dropped into the pool and approached the cage. " _Hola, T_ _í_ _a_. Little bit of trouble?"

She crossed her arms and sighed in exasperation. "Don't inspect me like one of your machines, Leo Valdez. Get me out of here!"

"Thalia, some of her Hunters, and I tried to open the cage earlier, but we couldn't do anything," I explained. "I think only you can be the one to break the cage, Leo."

He blinked twice. "No pressure or anything. Okay, I need time. Just keep an eye on _that_ thing, whatever it is."

"Speaking of which, what's going on with that?" Jason asked, jabbing a thumb in the direction of the growing spire on the opposite side of the pool.

"That, Jason," Hera said, "is the king of the giants being reborn."

"Gross," Piper said.

"Yes, horribly gross, and Hera's been used as a power source," I cut across Hera as she went to speak again. "We don't have time for this little talk. We have until sundown, or he will rise."

"Okay, I think I have an idea," Leo said. He turned to me and Piper. "Piper, I'm going to need your help. And we're going to need time."

"Got it," I said, holding out my hands, muttering in Ancient Greek as a golden glow started to cover the room. I didn't dare spread the spell farther than this room, knowing that magic grew exponentially weaker the thinner it was spread.

Right at the edge of my spell, a goddess came flying into the room, ricocheting so hard that she fell into a pile of wolves, causing them to snarl. One of them dropped a newly made statue – Thalia.

"Thalia!" Jason rushed forward, but Piper and Leo pulled him back. The ground around Thalia's statue was already webbed with ice. I'd never dealt with enchanted ice before, but I'd read enough about it to know that if you touched it, the ice would spread to you as well.

"Who did this?" Jason yelled. His body crackled with electricity. "I'll kill you myself!"

"They can't hear you," I told them. "Time is frozen in here, but not out there."

"Can't you do anything about it?"

I bit my lip, contemplating my options. I could spread the spell out as far as the entire Wolf House, but one blip in my concentration could spell disaster for us all. I didn't know if I had enough strength to do such a thing in the first place.

"I'll try," I said, the sinking feeling in my stomach growing as I moved towards the center of the pool.

"Andromeda, no," Hera scolded. "You don't have the strength to hold up such a powerful spell for that long."

"Then I'll die trying." I turned to the trio. "But promise me something. If the spell breaks for whatever reason, do _not_ try to help me. Your job is to get Hera out of that cage before the king is reborn. Am I clear?"

"Andy, we can't let you-" Piper protested.

"Am I clear?"

"Crystal," Leo muttered, sounding extremely unhappy.

"Good. And one other thing."

"What now?" Jason asked, his face already showing how distraught he was over my decision.

"If I start glowing, like going supernova, look away. That means I've slipped into my godly form, and I still can't control that yet. I don't want anyone to die because of me," I warned. "Be on your toes, alright? Okay, get going. I'll see what I can do about this time spell."

But before Jason got too far away, I handed him Epithymia, telling him that he needed it more than I did. I walked into the middle of the room, held my hands high above my head and started raising my voice as I chanted in Ancient Greek, picturing the dome expanding to capture the entirety of the Wolf House and everyone inside it.

Now, I know what you're thinking. _Andy, if you cast the spell inside the Wolf House, then won't the people inside keep attacking?_ Technically, no. I could choose who I wanted to be able to move in frozen time, but then again, this was new territory for me, so there was the very real possibility that I wouldn't be able to choose who got reanimated or not.

Sure enough, as the golden glow spread past the room we were in, some of the more chaotic storm spirits managed to break free. Jason yelled as he charged after them, keeping them away as Leo and Piper worked together to break Hera's cage.

Luckily for the trio, Khione and the wolves were still as frozen as ever, snow clinging to their bodies, appearing as if they'd been left to chill in amber for millions of years. But just as Khione and the wolves remained frozen, so did the remaining Hunters – those who hadn't been turned into human popsicles, that is.

"Piper, I need you to talk to the cage," Leo instructed, his hands fumbling inside of his tool belt before pulling out a huge circular saw.

"What?" she said.

"Talk to it. Use everything you've got. Convince mother earth to sleep. Lull her into a daze. Just slow her down, try to get the tendrils to loosen while I-"

"Right!" Piper cleared her throat and said, "Hey, mother earth. Nice night, huh? Boy, I'm tired. How about you? Ready for some sleep?"

 _"Pathetic daughter of that worthless love goddess,"_ I heard Gaea whisper in my mind, her voice reverberating around me. _"She thinks that her weak words will be enough to stop me,_ me, _the most powerful primordial! It is not too late to join me, my dear granddaughter. We would be grand together, you and I."_

"You're insane," I mumbled, sweat pouring down my face. "I will never join you, you crazy, murderous psychopath."

 _"It would be so easy to let Hera die,"_ she crooned. " _She never liked you much anyways, only saw you as a means to an end. All the gods see you as such, granddaughter. That is no way for a princess to be treated."_

"I helped kill my father. Why do you think I'd help you?"

 _"Because I have something of yours, something you care about dearly."_

"And what would that be?"

 _"Your friends. I have Luke Castellan and Will Solace with me, hidden deep in the earth. Oh, how my husband enjoys playing with his new toys."_ I shivered violently, thinking of all the horrors Tartarus could be inflicting on them. But there was no way to prove that this was real. _"You will join me, Andromeda, this I vow."_

Then I heard the anguished screams of my boyfriend and my best friend fill my mind, their wrecked voices shouting for me, for help, for mercy.

"Jason, look away!"

A low, guttural scream tore itself free from my throat as all my anger and frustration channeled itself through my spell. I shouted one final time, an explosion ripping its way through me, before I collapsed onto my knees, completely spent.

* * *

"Oh, gods," someone muttered, shaking my shoulders slightly. "Andy, please wake up. We need you to wake up."

"Try being more forceful?"

"WAKE UP!"

I sat up so abruptly it was a miracle I didn't bang my head into anyone else's.

 _"Gracias a Dios,"_ I heard Leo say before pulling me into a tight hug, his face resting between my shoulder and my collarbone. He stayed there for a few more seconds before pulling away, reaching up to touch his face, which was now stained with ichor from the werewolf scratches I'd sustained. "Erm, sorry about that."

"It's fine," I waved off, cringing at the feebleness of my voice. I groaned as I felt two sets of hands slowly prop me upright. "Oh, my head."

"That's to be expected after going into one's true form for the first time," Hera said. She forced a silver goblet into my hand. "Drink."

"How do we know you didn't just poison her?" Thalia retorted, her hands on her hips.

"Watch your tongue, Thalia Grace, or so help me-"

"What? You'll send some intestinally challenged cows after me, too?"

"She was being disrespectful!"

"Stop it, you two," Piper said. Amazingly, the two shut up. "Here, why don't we have Hera test it first? If it was poisoned, she wouldn't drink it."

"It's not poisoned," I assured my friends, lifting the goblet to my lips and taking a cautious sip. "This isn't the first time Hera's taken care of me after something like this."

"But I thought this was your first time going supernova?" Leo asked. "Which, thanks for the heads up, by the way. Jason nearly had his brains fried."

"I was occupied at the moment," Jason huffed, the tips of his ears a bright red. "When you started glowing, I was distracted by a storm spirit that had pushed me into the big spire."

"Speaking of which," I said, pleased to see that neither spire was there anymore. "What happened to our giant friend over there? And Khione?"

"Gone," Thalia said with an affirmative nod of her head. "The second that the spire exploded into a pile of gold light, Khione fled, taking the werewolves, storm spirits, and Earthborn with her."

"Wait, did you say the spire exploded?"

"Like confetti," Leo confirmed, an excited smile on his face, like he'd just come up with an idea on how to recreate the explosion with a confetti cannon. "All that was left afterwards was this sword." He gestured to the sword sheathed at Jason's waist.

"So, the Anti-Zeus was never reborn?"

"Nope," Piper said. "And thank the gods for that, too. The dirt had nearly consumed Hera by the time we managed to break the cage, and Jason was being attacked from all sides. Not to mention, Khione made it her goal to freeze all of us before we could finish."

"I got to shoot fire at her!" Leo said excitedly. "Because that's what happens to snow in Texas. It – freaking – melts!"

I laughed weakly, glad to see that even Thalia and Hera were smiling slightly, amused by Leo's sense of humor. I stopped when my head gave another painful throb, and I took another sip of the goblet, feeling the warmth of the nectar running down my throat.

"In any case," Hera began, "by saving me, and saving this place, you prevented my grandmother and her son from waking. You have bought us some time. Giants can only be killed by a combination of god and demigod, working together. Once you freed me-"

"I'd stabbed the spire, on accident," Jason said, realization sinking in. "And then Andy went supernova. We killed him. That's why he turned into confetti."

Hera nodded grimly. "Exactly, my champion. But he will be back, maybe sooner than any of us would like. We must be ready for when he does."

"I'm coming with you lot," I said, pushing myself up to my feet, much to Thalia and Piper's chagrin. I didn't sway or anything, but Thalia refused to let go of my arm, her hands as cold as ice. "I know I'm not one of the seven half-bloods, but I'll be damned if I'm not a part of your quest."

Piper raised her eyebrows at me. "You _want_ to be a part of a quest that will most likely kill all of us? Why would you do that?"

"Because my grandmother just kidnapped my boyfriend and my best friend is letting her new hubby torture them to his heart's content," I hissed, angrily kicking some of the nearby rubble.

Thalia's expression fell. "She has Luke?"

"And Will."

"That little-" Thalia started cursing Gaea out with every swear word under the sun, in English, and Ancient Greek, to the point where Leo was covering Jason's ears with his hands and saying, "There are innocent children here!"

"They were those blond boys, right?" Piper asked. "The ones that you hung out with after bringing us to camp?"

I nodded my head. "I've known Luke just as long as I've known Thalia – almost ten years. And Will's been one of my best friends for the past seven or eight years."

Thalia scowled. "I need to find Annabeth. She has to know what's happened here."

"Thalia…" Jason gripped her hand. "We never got to really talk about this place, or-"

"I know." Her expression softened. "I lost you here once. I don't want to leave you again. But we'll meet soon. I'll rendezvous with you back at Camp Half-Blood." She glanced at Hera. "You'll see them there safely? It's the least you can do."

"It's not your place to tell me-"

"Queen Hera," Piper interceded.

The goddess sighed. "Fine. Yes. Just off with you, Hunter!"

Thalia gave Jason and me a hug and said her goodbyes, promising that she'd bring Bianca with her when she stopped by camp. When the Hunters were gone, the courtyard seemed eerily silent. The dried-up reflecting pool showed no sign of the earthen tendrils that had once held the giant king or imprisoned Hera. The night sky was clear and starry. The wind rustled in the redwoods.

"Jason, what happened to you here?" Piper asked. "I mean – I know your mom abandoned you here. But you said it was sacred grounds for demigods. Why? What happened after you were on your own?"

Jason shook his head uneasily. "It's still murky. The wolves…"

"Won't come back until we're gone," I said. "Lupa senses a threat to her pack."

"Aw, man," Leo grumbled. "What else is going to jump out at us, the boogeyman?"

"No, not exactly," Hera said, giving me a warning glare. I shrugged, knowing that the Fates didn't care if I said anything right now, seeing as I was still able to interfere at the moment. "You were given a destiny, Jason. You were given into my service."

Jason scowled. "Because you forced my mom to do that. You couldn't stand knowing Zeus had two children with my mom. Knowing that he'd fallen for her _twice._ I was the price you demanded for leaving the rest of my family alone."

"It was the right choice for you as well, Jason," Hera insisted. "The second time your mother managed to snare Zeus's affections, it was because she imagined him in a different aspect – the aspect of Jupiter. Never before had this happened – two children, Greek and Roman, born into the same family. You _had_ to be separated from Thalia. This is where all demigods of your kind start their journey."

"Of his kind?" Piper asked.

"She means Roman," Jason said. "Demigods are left here. We meet the she-wolf goddess, Lupa, the same immortal wolf that raised Romulus and Remus."

Hera nodded. "And if you're strong enough, you live."

"But…" Leo looked mystified. "What happened after that? I mean, Jason never made it to camp."

"Not to Camp Half-Blood, no," Hera agreed.

Piper paled a bit. She held onto Jason to keep her steady. "You went somewhere else," she said. "Somewhere else for demigods – but where?"

Jason turned to the goddess. "The memories are coming back, but not the location. That's how I know Andy. But, you're not going to tell me, are you?"

"No," Hera began, but I cut across her, saying, "Hera can't, but I can. In due time, of course," I added after the goddess started glowering at me yet again. "So, Hera, about that ride back to camp…?"

She rolled her eyes. "Yes, yes. Farewell, demigods, for now."

She waved her hand, and the world turned pitch black.


End file.
